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By:

C.S. Krishnamurthy

21 June 2025 at 2:15:51 pm

Ekta Bhyan, Quiet Gold

The strongest lessons in life rarely arrive with drumbeats. They come quietly, sit beside us, and stay long after the applause fades. I learnt this at the recent Peakst8 Festival in the world-class Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence Bengaluru. The venue was full of ambition, energy, loud confidence and polished success stories. Yet, it was gold-winning para-athlete Ekta Bhyan who held my attention, not by raising her voice, but by lowering the noise around her. She was an integral...

Ekta Bhyan, Quiet Gold

The strongest lessons in life rarely arrive with drumbeats. They come quietly, sit beside us, and stay long after the applause fades. I learnt this at the recent Peakst8 Festival in the world-class Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence Bengaluru. The venue was full of ambition, energy, loud confidence and polished success stories. Yet, it was gold-winning para-athlete Ekta Bhyan who held my attention, not by raising her voice, but by lowering the noise around her. She was an integral part of a panel discussing what it takes to reach the Olympics. Others spoke of pressure, fame and sacrifice. Ekta spoke of routine. Of turning up. Of patience. There were no heroic flourishes in her words. Each sentence was measured, calm and grounded. Listening to her, I sensed a deep reserve of experience. She was not trying to impress. She was simply explaining how life had unfolded. A spinal injury, in 2003, had left her paralysed. This is usually where stories pause for sympathy. Ekta’s does not. She spoke of rebuilding, not rebelling. Of learning what the body could still do, and then working patiently within those limits. Para sport entered her life quietly, not as rescue, but as direction. Over time, she found her space in the F51 club throw, a demanding discipline where balance, precision and control matter more than force. What stayed with me was her restraint. She mentioned podium finishes only in passing. International meets, Asian Para Games, world championships, all appeared briefly and then moved aside. Even the gold medal she had earned was referred to almost casually, as one would mention a milestone on a long road. For her, medals are not destinations. They are confirmations. Steely Discipline Ekta spoke about training. It is not exciting, she said. It repeats itself. Progress hides. Muscles resist. The mind looks for shortcuts. Yet commitment must remain steady. She described days when success meant completing a session without excuses. On some mornings, it was finishing gym work despite fatigue. Evenings meant outdoor practice, carefully timed because regulating body temperature is a constant challenge after spinal injury. For nearly three years, she has not missed a single day of training. With limited muscle use and only about forty per cent lung capacity, each session needs careful planning. Her shoulders are her strongest allies. Other muscles cooperate less. Fingers offer no strength at all. Still, she works with what she has. Over the last four years, this discipline has translated into results. Gold medals at national championships. A bronze at the Asian Para Games. Gold and bronze at the World Championships in Paris in 2023. This season alone, she added gold at the Indian Open Paralympic Championships and a silver soon after. Her personal best stands at 21.5 metres, and she speaks of improving it, not defending it. There was a gentler revelation too. As a young girl, Ekta had once dreamt of becoming a doctor. She wanted to heal. Life rewrote the syllabus. Yet, listening to her, I realised she still heals. Not with medicine, but with example. Her journey treats assumptions and restores belief, quietly and effectively. Human Moment After the session, when the crowd thinned, I walked up to her with my notebook. I asked for her autograph, expecting a quick signature. She paused, asked my name, and wrote hers carefully. That small act reflected everything she had spoken about. Presence. Respect. Attention. Her daily life, she earlier shared, is not simple. She needs two people to help with routine movements, from transferring to travel. Public transport is impossible. Every trip requires planning, space and expense. Often, she bears the cost for three people, not one. Yet, she spoke of this without complaint. The harder challenge, she said, is mindset. People with disabilities are still seen as separate from the mainstream. Expectations are lowered, often disguised as kindness. Ekta resists this quietly. Her competition is internal. Yesterday versus today. Comfort versus effort. Paralysis, she believes, is a condition, not an identity. As I left the venue, the applause felt inadequate. Not because it was soft, but because her journey asks for reflection, not noise. Ekta Bhyan reminds us that ambition can change shape without losing meaning. That success does not always announce itself. Sometimes, it arrives quietly, balanced and consistent. Her strength lies not only in the distance she throws, but in the steadiness she maintains. And in that quiet balance, Ekta Bhyan offers us something rare. A lesson that stays long after the hall has emptied.   (The writer is a retired banker and author of ‘Money Does Matter.’)

Surgery saves boy who gulped tiny LED bulb

Mumbai: In a bizarre development, a small boy from Kolhapur swallowed a tiny LED light bulb a few months ago that got stuck deep in his lung causing huge trauma and emotional stress for his family, officials said.

 

When the unusual case was referred to the Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre (JHRC), a team of medicos successfully extricated the foreign object lodged in the three-and-half-year-old boy’s chest.

 

Recounting the remarkable feat, a JHRC official said the child, Aarav Patil was reported to be suffering from severe breathing difficulties and incessant coughing for almost three months.

 

Doctors treating him at his home town initially mistook it for pneumonia and subjected him to multiple courses of antibiotics and other medicines, but there was improvement in the boy’s condition.

 

Subsequently, he was taken for advanced tests, examinations and a CT Scan which revealed the shocker – a metallic object was sitting inside the boy’s left bronchus, partially blocking the airway.

 

More tests identified the offending object – it was a LED bulb from a toy car – a development so rare that even seasoned doctors described it as a ‘one in a million case’.

 

Though doctors in Kolhapur attempted to retrieve the foreign body through flexible bronchoscopy - a minimally invasive procedure - the attempts proved to be unsuccessful.

 

As Aarav’s condition appeared to deteriorate, his desperate family rushed him to JHRC and he was referred to a team of specialist doctors.

 

After studying his case and examining Aarav, the medical team comprising thoracic surgeon Dr. Vimesh Rajput, ENT surgeon Dr. Divya Prabhat and Dr. Anurag Jain discovered that the bulb had not only blocked the bronchus but had also embedded itself in the surrounding tissues of the lung tissue, making its removal extremely challenging.

 

A rigid bronchoscopy conducted further confirmed the severity of the obstruction. Left with no other option, the doctors decided to opt for a mini thoracotomy — a delicate surgery involving a 4-centimeter incision in the chest.

 

“This was one of the rarest cases we’ve encountered. The bulb was lodged in such a way that conventional methods could not retrieve it. Through careful planning and teamwork, we managed to safely remove the object by a mini thoracotomy and restored Aarav’s lung function,” explained Dr. Rajput.

 

Emphasising how such cases are ignored, Dr. Prabhat pointed out that chronic cough or breathing issues are often dismissed as common pneumonia or even asthma.

 

“However, such persistent symptoms must always be investigated thoroughly, especially through early detection and imaging which can make all the difference to the patient,” she averred.

 

JHRC CMO Dr. Milind Khadke said, “The foreign body aspiration in kids is far more common that parents may realise but quick intervention is critical to prevent long-term medical complications.”

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