Fate played a cruel joke on him when he fell between a train about to move and the railway platform to see one of his legs crushed under the last bogie chugging out of Khambhat. This was July 1 last year when Kadia was on his way to a construction site in Kali Talavadi village.

Waiting passengers at the station rushed him to the SSG hospital in Vadodara. Five `successful' surgeries later, his other injured leg, too, had to be amputated. Finally, he has no stumps left of his legs.

And Kiran Kadia is not alone. About 30,000 people lose their legs every year in the country either in accidents or of sickness. What is worth noting is that some 20,000 of them get their legs back, as did Kadia.

Yes, and it is through the selfless service of the Jaipur-based Bhagwan Mahavir Viklang Sahayata Samiti, which makes artificial legs, popularly known as the Jaipur foot, free.

Beginning with 150 artificial legs, exclusively crafted from high density polyethylene (HDPE), the Samiti today makes about 20,000 of them in Jaipur and 18 associate centres, including Vadodara, in the country. It has centres in 18 countries making the Jaipur foot, all free.

Invented by an unskilled Master Ramachandra of the Samiti, after he himself had a weighty wooden artificial limb fixed on him, the organisation has not taken any patent of their light and flexible artificial legs.

``And we do not wish to take it either, for we want to help as many people as possible. Though we have taught the process to others, we ensure that it is not used for commercial purposes,'' says Mahavir Chandra Bhandari, the Samiti's camp organiser.

Kadia's case is seen as a breakthrough, because in most other cases, it is relatively easier fixing up artificial legs on half (or little more) amputated legs. ``He had nothing left of the leg, not even a trace of the stump. It is only his courage and the Samiti's expert help, which has helped him stand on his feet,'' says Kanubhai Brahmbhatt, a Vadodara-based social worker, who spent months and money on Kadia's care.

With the best doctors across the State ruling out the possibility of fixing up the artificial leg in the country, it all accentuated Kadia's frustration, says Brahmbhatt, who later took him to Kota.

There Dr D S Taterh, the Samiti secretary, and an activist Ramchandra Sharma, also realised it was a difficult case.

``But we didn't lose hope and our craftsmen took Kadia's case as a challenge,'' says Dr Taterh, who gave up a medical practice to join the Samiti full time. Sharma retired from the railways to associate with the organisation. Though with a support, Kadia today walks five to six km a day.

And while they were talking to Express Newsline, in came Ram Narain, jumping off from a bicycle he had gone out on. ``He has a Jaipur limb with which he can run and walk like a normal man, climb trees and even swim,'' says Bhandari proudly.