According to Narendranath, Rashtrapati Bhavan was in constant touch with him.

Thangamarimuthu stayed until April 30 at the hospital which took care of all his expenses and returned home triumphantly with “a pair of new legs.” He will now need training and physiotherapy to use the limbs. “But a private hospital in Madurai will help me do that,” said Thangamarimuthu.

It was on September 11, 2003, that Thangamarimuthu’s bus was involved in an accident when it collided with a truck. Several passengers in the bus had been injured including Thangamarimuthu, who suffered grievous injuries. His badly smashed limbs had to be amputated and subsequently he was also dismissed from work by the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation as being “unfit to be a conductor.”

It was even as he was having a protracted legal battle for justice that he wrote to Kalam. “Now, I can hope to fight standing,” said Thangamarimuthu.