After a 11-month-long battle with a congenital heart disease, Durva passed away on November 16. The Shukla family was in despair. The light of their lives had been snuffed out, their only child was no more. Yet, despite the gloom that settled over the family, they decided to light up a stranger's life.

With around 1,000 patients waiting for donated eyes, Durva's corneas are valuable. Percy Ghaswala, manager of the Eye Bank Coordination and Research Centre (EBCRC) at Masina Hospital says: ``We need around one lakh 50 thousand eyes every year. We get just about eight to 10 thousand annually. This is despite the fact that nine to 10 million people die every year in India. The gap isvery large. Every pair we get is valuable.''

The Tarun Mitra Mandal, a non-governmental organisation that instituted the Yuvraj Eye Donation Movement, responded to the Shukla's call for donation. They organised the removal of the eyeballs within the stipulated time of a few hours and rushed it to the Masina Hospital. The tests were done and the go ahead given for the transplant.

``They were a healthy pair of eyeballs,'' says Dr Dhiraj Bahuva, the doctor who removed Durva's cornea. ``We get a lot of donations from older patients, but in these cases, the eyeballs have usually degenerated to some extent. Younger patients donate healthier organs.''

According to EBCRC statistics, there are around 40 million blind people in the world and three million in India. Sixty per cent of the corneally blind are children below the age of 12. Of the 10,000 odd donations that are received by various eye banks in the city, at present only 20 to 30 per cent of the eyes collected are utilised. The rest go for reconstructivesurgery and research, among other things.