Ahmedabad: Ten years after an acid attack left her face scarred and severely impaired her vision, Kajal Prajapati has achieved the goal she set herself while piecing her life back together — getting a govt job. In fact, the 28-year-old daughter of a rickshaw driver from Mehsana’s Ramosana village cleared recruitment exams for not one but two govt posts this year.Prajapati first cleared the recruitment process for talati-cum-mantri. Two months later, she cleared the recruitment exam for the post of deputy mamlatdar. She has chosen the latter and is due for document verification on Sept 17.“The deputy mamlatdar post is more prestigious, so I have decided to take it up. My monthly salary will be Rs 49,600. After everything it has taken to reach this point, I am very excited about starting this new chapter,” she says.Kajal was 18 and in her first year of BCom when she was attacked with acid by a man whose advances she had spurned. The attack blinded her completely in one eye and left her with only partial vision in the other. More than 20 reconstructive surgeries followed. It was during those years that Kajal decided what she wanted from the life ahead of her. “I did not want people to look at me with sympathy. I wanted social standing. I wanted to be financially independent. That is why I decided that I would get a govt job,” she says.She had initially wanted to become a police sub-inspector, but eventually accepted that her visual impairment would stand in the way. “Given the physical disability of losing an eye, I turned my attention to the revenue department exams,” she says.Preparing for the exams meant doing without many of the advantages available to other aspirants. The family had already struggled with the costs of her treatment. “We did not have the money for coaching, and I could not afford to study at a private library. So I studied at the district panchayat library in Mehsana and put in eight to 10 hours every day,” she says.But getting herself to the library every day involved another kind of preparation. Kajal knew that if she were to work in a job that required interacting with people, she first had to become comfortable being out in the world with a face that drew stares.“I never covered my face with a dupatta or hid behind a mask because I knew I had to get over the awkwardness of people staring at me. I wanted to live life on my own terms, and I could not do that if I kept hiding from people,” she says.At 28, she has also decided to draw a line under the surgeries that have occupied much of her adult life. “I don’t want any more surgeries. I want to get on with my life,” she says.She credits her family, friends and doctors with getting her this far. Her elder brother Rahul, who works at a vehicle fitness centre, has been one of her biggest supporters. “He tells everyone, ‘My sister is the strongest.’ That means a lot to me,” she says.She is also immensely grateful to her friends who stood by her. “After my surgeries, when my eyes were covered and I could not see, Jaya would take me around the village. She kept telling me, ‘You have to go out. You have to reclaim your place in the world.’ Those words stayed with me,” Kajal says.Then there is Rinku Patel, whom Kajal met at the library. They studied together for five years. Having secured her own place in govt service, Kajal is now rooting for her friend. “I am hopeful that she too will get the job she wants in the police department,” she says.The doctors who treated her also gave the family concessions for her surgeries, she says. “So many people helped me reach this point — my family, my friends and even doctors. I will never forget that support,” she says. With two recruitment exams cleared, she now gets to choose the job with which she will proudly begin a new life.
