Kochi: Six weeks after she met with a road accident, Hanan Hamid, is finally back on her feet. The young woman, who rose to fame after photos of her selling fish to raise money for her studies went viral, had met with an accident near Kodungallur in her native Thrissur district when she was returning after a stage show on September 3.
The college student, though, will have to be extremely careful about her physical movements in the next one-and-a-half months during which she must use a belt, said Dr Haroon Pillay, who is treating the 21-year-old at the Medical Trust Hospital, Ernakulam.
“Going by the injuries she suffered, Hanan would have even gone paralytic. She is lucky,” says Dr Pillay. “Rarely does recovery happen so fast in such cases," he adds. "She will be able to walk soon. The girl has grit."
Hanan's story about selling fish in a suburban Kochi market after her college hours lent her fame in July, though with an unfair share of criticism.
She was making a successful comeback when the accident left her bedridden.
Even at the Kodungalloor Modern Hospital, the bedridden girl had to face more trouble when a man barged into the intensive care unit and went live on Facebook with Hanan, against the restrictions imposed by the authorities and doctors. Rajesh Raman, a native of Methala village in Kodungalloor, breached the hospital security and Hanan's privacy in a bid to 'make a viral content on his own.
The rest of her stay at the hospital was uneventful and saw Hanan making a steady recovery. In the past one month, she has been wheelchair-bound, but not lazing away time: Hanan was into launching online sale of fish in the near future. The infrastructure for this engagement came from banks, which lent her loan on knowing about her story through media reports.
Hanan today has a vehicle to transport/sell fish and a driver to take the rounds. In the first phase, she plans to sell to urban customers living in apartments and busy residential pockets, delivering them fish based on online order. Besides, she will, as usual, be selling fish at the Thammanam market before and after her learning hours.
It was three months ago that Hanan became the talk of the town. In the last week of July, she became an instant social media star after a video of her selling fish in college uniform went viral. Netizens in the state were quick to hail the perseverance of the girl, even as some threw slammed her claiming that stories about her were cooked up with an eye to get a chance in an upcoming Malayalam movie.
