The Americans had retaliated by gunfire — a common occurrence those days, Ahmed recounts — when a bullet hit

his hip joint. His life was never the same again, and two unsuccessful operations later, Ahmed reached India in early June this year. His prayer — a restructured hip.

Ahmed was operated upon at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital on June 13. His hip was completely replaced, doctors told Newsline. Two weeks later, he walked out of the hospital without a limp and was ready to catch a flight back home.

Senior consultant in the Orthopaedic department, Dr Raju Vaishya said, “Despite two operations before, there were pellets in his hip. The hip was unstable as there was no bone to support it. We reconstructed the damaged cup of the joint using a bone from a cadaver donor.”

Ahmed’s voice betrays a tinge of remorse when he remembers the day nearly three and a half years ago. “I was young and silly. I regret being in the mob that day. But in a mob, one also feels safer,” he told Newsline.

The bullet destroyed his hip bone, and tore through his intestines and abdomen. He underwent two painful surgeries, one left a limb shorter than the other, but none could relieve him of the chronic pain in his hips.

Ahmed said: “In war-torn countries, such injuries are common. Blasts and gunshots are a way of life. Many such victims come to India because local hospitals do not offer specialised treatment. I was referred to Delhi by my doctor in Baghdad.”

Ahmed has been fully cured after a month in the Apollo hospital. His friends and family pooled in the Rs 3.5 lakh that was needed for the surgery. “I ran a small business in Baghdad. After the incident, I was in and out of hospital all the time. My business suffered as a consequence. But I could pay the amount required to make me walk again, that too without the limp,” he said.

He is naturally thrilled. “My family will be too once they see me,” Ahmed said, before he turned to thank his doctors.