The pursuit of an American dream is an ideal goal for many Indians but sometimes, a higher calling of social service may take precedence for some people.
Prashant Gade, founder of the Inali Foundation, chose to stay in India and empower the poor with prosthetic limbs, giving up his dream to study robotics in the US.
‘I tore my ticket to the US’
Prashant shared that he “tore his ticket” for the US and decided to stay back in his country to help build a foundation that would make prosthetic limbs to the poor after noticing the plight of a 7-year-old girl.
The girl, he shared, had no arms. “I asked a doctor how much a prosthetic arm would cost. He told me it would cost Rs 24 lakh. I was shocked,” he said, remarking that it was then that he decided to quit his job and work towards such an initiative.
“My father stopped talking to me [after I decided to not go to the US.] I quit my job and I was left with nothing,” he said.
‘I slept on railway platforms in Pune’
Gade shared that after he quit his job, he was left with little to no savings, adding that he often slept on railway platforms, ate once a day and would even be mistaken for a beggar.
Despite these hardships, he persisted and managed to start his small lab in my garage. “I decided to build a prosthetic arm for the price of a smart phone and brought down the cost of it from Rs 24 lakh to Rs 50,000,” he said.
Today, these arms are supplied for free to those who cannot afford it, he added.
‘I didn’t lose my American dream’
When Gade saw children using the prosthetic arms built by his foundation to eat their meals, a profound sense of joy and accomplishment washed over him.
“I didn’t lose my American dream; I found my Indian one. When a child hugs their mother with my arm for the first time, that feeling is my biggest paycheck. No job in the USA can buy that,” he said.