Palakkad: Jyothi, a native of Chhattisgarh, who got married to a man from Palakkad, Kerala, seeks the people’s mandate from Kollengode in Palakkad district of Kerala.
Jyothi, contests in the local body polls as a candidate for the Bharathiya Janatha Party (BJP) to Palathully, in Kollangode Block Panchayath of Palakkad.
With all the strength gained from the unusual incidents in her life, Jyothi seeks the people’s mandate fully confident of being Kerala’s daughter in law.
The quote - life is stranger than fiction - holds true in the case of this young woman from Chhattisgarh. The life-changing incident in Jyothi’s life happened on 3rd January 2010. Then, a B.Sc Nursing student with Maithri College in Chhattisgarh, Jyothi had boarded a bus to her home town from her college hostel. About halfway through, Jyothi was terrified as she saw a truck which had lost its control approaching head on to their bus. In the next second, she noticed that the man who sat in front of her seat was sleeping with his head rested on the bus’s window. The direction of the truck which had lost control and was speeding seemed directly towards his part of the bus. With hardly a fraction of a second to even think, Jyothi pushed his head inside with her right hand. The man escaped the accident without a bruise. However, Jyothi who saved his life lost her right hand. The speeding truck hit the bus and passed cutting her right hand out.
Jyothi interacting with the electorate Vikas, a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) jawan, from Palathully in Palakkad, was the passenger who was rescued by Jyothi. Vikas who was sitting in front of Jyothi was fast asleep. He was startled awake in the sound of the accident, only to see Jyothi who was lying drenched in blood. Vikas saw her hand cut off completely, wrapped the detached part of the hand in a clean cloth and asked the bus driver to rush to the nearest hospital. Though they reached the nearest Government Hospital quickly, the centre had no facility for replantation surgery to attach the cut part of her hand. Thus, Jyothi lost her right hand permanently.
Vikas realised that Jyothi lost her hand while attempting to save his life from what the fellow passengers in the bus told him later. On understanding this, Vikas decided to do whatever he could for Jyothi. While still in the hospital, Jyothi had been showered with blames by her family for risking her own life and future for a total stranger. Her relatives visited her at the hospital on the 12th day after the accident.
Vikas, and his brother Vishal, were there for all help and support continuously through her hospital stay until she left the hospital. Today, Jyothi is Vikas’s wife and a mother to their two children. The accident had united them. Initially, both their families were against the marriage. Later, all of them agreed as Vikas remained determined to marry her.
Jyothi is hopeful about winning the election with all the support from family and fellow villagers, as she seeks votes from people in Palathully division in Kollangode Block Panchayath of Palakkad district as a BJP candidate.
