Former army man’s tale of grit and determination

In 2004 Rajat Mishra was posted as a Lieutenant in the Indian Army at Vadodara for a Military Young Officers’ course. He was riding a bike with a lady officer as pillion rider when he hit a tractor trolley coming in the opposite direction. He lost consciousness as a result of the impact. “I woke up 10 days later to find that I did not have my right arm/shoulder,” says the former army man. 

“I had no memory of the accident. I had unofficially died twice and been resuscitated by the doctors. When I woke up I had blurred vision and was disoriented. The doctor said I had an accident, and to save my life they had had to amputate my right arm. My legs were in plaster, but I could feel them. The rest of me was in bandages and the doctors had wired shut my jaw. I was thirsty and the first thing I said, was — ‘Hmm… can I have some chocolate shake’?” he recalls.

Overcoming this tragic turn of events led to the book, It’s All in the Mind, that Rajat has written. “It’s my story. It’s an inspirational book,” he says, but with elements of humour, tragedy, action and romance in it. It takes the reader through the main character, Siddhant’s journey, as he receives training at the National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy to his days in the army and the fateful accident. “I want to share the message of not giving up,” says Rajat. 

He learnt what such will power entailed when he was part of Operation Rhino in 2004, a joint operation launched by the Royal Bhutanese Army (RBA) along with the Indian Army, to flush out militants on their borders. “Once I knew that I would have to let go off the olive green uniform, I decided to target only two B-schools: Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and Indian School of Business, Hyderabad. The journey wasn’t easy but I made it to both institutes . I chose IIM-A over ISB.”

Rajat, who stays in Chennai for the last six years, wants his life to serve as an example to others. “I will continue to make a significant impact in this ‘second life’ that I have been given,” he says.