IRON-WILLED: With four fingers crushed, boy still 'writes' first SSC paper

While all Std X students spent an anxious morning as they started writing papers for their first board exam, this 16-year old SSC student's problems would make their performance anxiety seem trivial.

Vipul Pujari

Barely three days before his exam, Vipul Pujari injured two fingers on each hand, after they were crushed in a spring-motion seesaw at a playground near his school in Airoli.

The injury was so grave that it required an operation. Vipul was discharged on Sunday, with less than a day to go for his exams. Not one to give up easily, he decided to go ahead and give the exams, with the help of a writer.

Vipul, a student of Saraswati Vidyalaya School at Sector V, had gone to school to collect his hall ticket on Friday. He said, "My friends and I reached school early in the morning and went to the playground, as we had nothing to do. While I was sitting on a seesaw, it crushed my fingers. For five minutes, nobody could pull my fingers out.

I was bleeding profusely and when my teachers were informed, they rushed me to a hospital." At the hospital, Vipul's mother Surekha was informed that the wound would have to be operated upon.

"The school management has been extra generous and caring towards my son. Not only did they pay a part of my son's medical expenses, but also arranged for a writer for him when he said that he was keen on taking the examinations," said Surekha.

Vipul said, "I had prepared for the exams all through the year. After being discharged from the hospital on Sunday afternoon, I rushed home and brushed up on the syllabus. I wanted to appear for my first paper, come what may.

Thankfully I was able to so." The teenager said that he is happy with his performance in the examination. A student of Std IX was appointed as his writer.

Vipul however is worried that his present handicap may hamper his performance in the exam. "I am trying my best. But I am worried that a writer may not be able to write the paper at the same speed I could have written in," he said.

>> On Friday, he had gone to school to collect his hall ticket
>> Since he reached school early and went to the playground, where his fingers got stuck in a seesaw