Despite losing both legs, Ashraf scales the academic summit

Nagpur: Like any teenage, he too had dreams to make it big until a tragedy struck two years back on June 28, 2018. Ashraf Joya lost both his legs when he slipped from a train at Makrana in Nagour, Rajasthan, and came under the wheels of the train.
However, even such a bit loss did not deter this 19-year-old from scoring an impressive 93.07% in Std XII results declared on Friday and becoming a probable city topper in from physically challenged category. The gritty student CP and Berar School aims to crack the civil services and help the poor and the needy.
“Earlier, I thought of seeking admission into engineering college but now I’ve decided to join BSc mathematics,” an elated Ashraf, flanked by his mother and sister, said.
He was critically hurt in the accident as one after another hospital refused admission to him but he still survived miraculously. “After a couple of hospitals refused to treat me in Ajmer, I was taken to Jaipur. In the meantime, I lost a lot of blood and only 400ml was left in the body. The doctors in Jaipur did a fantastic job to save me,” he said.
Ashraf’s father Shahabuddin is a civil construction contractor doing tiles/marbles fitting work while mother is a homemaker. He is youngest of the four children. The family had gone to Rajasthan for marriage of his eldest sister when the tragedy struck. “I lost both legs from the thighs, but with the help of prosthetics, I am managing some movement by myself. I need help of a walker,” he said.
The Borgaon resident scored 88% in Class 10 as a student of Blue Diamond High School. Asked how he managed to divert his mind from his sudden disability and focus on studies, he said he never paid attention to it as it was past. “My sister Zareena, who is a gold medallist in BSc and now pursuing MSc is my biggest support, apart from my parents. She used to drop and pick me from the coaching classes and clear my doubts,” he said.
Family’s neighbour Amjad Khan, working as a vice-president in a multinational, now wants to help the boy secure scholarship so that he could realize his dreams of higher studies. “I know the entire family since long and saw their children really working hard despite financial and other adversities. Not only is this boy an inspiration for entire area but so is his sister. I am trying for arrange good quality prosthetics for him so he can walk comfortably without a walker. The entire family is truly inspirational,” Khan said.