Live to Tell

If there were an award for over-achievement in the face of adversity, Malvika Iyer would be a prime contender.

- Nivedita Jayaram Pawar

The problem is, even if she won, there wouldn't be room on her awards shelf for yet another accolade celebrating her grit-filled and motivation-laced life.

It was a hot summer afternoon of 26 May 2002 in Chennai that changed 13-year old Iyer’s life forever. Memories of the day are still embedded in her brain. “A pocket of my jeans was torn and hanging out. I decided to stick it with glue and went to the garage in search of a blunt object which I could use to apply pressure on the glued edges.” An ammunition depot in the locality had caught fire a few months previously, which led to many bomb pieces being scattered in the area. Iyer picked up a grenade with no idea of what it was, and took it to her room. Soon enough, it blew up in her hands. “There was smoke all around and I could smell my own burnt flesh. The smell of gunpowder mixed with the smell of blood and my charred skin still haunts me. The sound of the explosion reverberates in my ears and I don’t think it will ever leave me.”

The blast wrecked Iyer’s hands and legs. What followed was two years of surgeries, 18 months of being confined to the bed and a lifetime of challenges. “The dressing, the skin removal and the countless operations were just too painful. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to live with the pain for the rest of my life. Everyday was a tragedy in the hospital.”