Hyderabad: Freedom from shackles of beggary

Hyderabad: In an act displaying grit and determination, a differently abled woman, after begging for two years, set up her own fruit trolley thus setting an example. Rama Devi, suffering polio since childhood, changed her life from begging on the roads to set up her own fruit trolley. She said that she lost her legs to polio at a young age. "My legs stopped working at a young age due to polio," she said.

Despite her disability, Rama Devi had completed her schooling, "I have done my tenth grade from Zilla Parishad High School and Intermediate from Government Junior College in Nalgonda district," she said.

Not knowing her biological parents, Rama Devi was adopted by a family at a very young age. After she completed high school, she got married and moved to Hyderabad. But tragedy struck her again after seven years into her marital life, when she lost her husband.

"I lost my husband two years ago. With him, I was very happy but once he passed away, there was no one to look after me. I started begging for money to sustain myself and my three children. For two years, I kept on begging on the roads of Hyderabad," she said.

Rama Devi has three children. After giving birth to two sons, she along with her husband had adopted a daughter.

Despite her begging for two years, she had sent her children to school, "I sent my children to school for two years, though I was begging and even now, my children are studying," she said. "I was offered a wheelchair by an unknown person, after seeing my feet and hands bleeding from dragging myself on roads while begging," she added.

After several attempts to die by suicide, she said that she had finally found a way to live her life. "Maybe this is why God had been saving me all the time, despite my several attempts to commit suicide," she said.

"For the last two years Rama Devi was seeking alms on roads and we were pained by seeing her condition. Now we are happy that she is engaged in her own business by setting up a fruit trolley," Sheikh Afsar, a local vendor, said.