her story is reminiscent of prominent dancer sudha chandran who set a sterling example with her will power to take up dancing with an artificial leg despite having lost her leg in a road accident in 1981 meet dr vijayalakshmi subramaniam an associate professor in otorhinolaryngology yenepoya medical college in mangaluru this bharatanatyam exponent and vocalist undertook a similar journey after a 1995 road accident left her crippled for more than a year then she was a 22yearold college topper who had completed her bharatanatyam vidwath exams and was planning for further studies and wanting to be trained under dance exponent padma subrahmaniam in chennai the years till then had been steeped in classical music and dance not surprising in a family of teachers and art lovers speaking to bangalore mirror vijayalakshmi said my paternal grandmother was an expert vocalist violinist and harmonium playermy mother and aunt are also good singers she was accompanied in her musical sojourn by her sister meenakshi an electronics engineer and the siblings developed a close camaraderie through music and dance the sisters trained in carnatic classical music under vidushi rajalakshmi srinivasan baroda vidwan chintalapalli krishnamurthi vidushi jayalakshmi srinath and vidwan belakwadi rangaswami iyengar of bengaluru each new lesson learnt in music brought about a feeling of excitement in us and we would sing the varnams and kritis taught to us triumphantly vijayalakshmi said initial training in bharatanatyam was under guru rema srikanth of baroda and then vidushi lalitha srinivasan of nupura bengaluru training under guru sandhya keshava rao of bengaluru gave her clear insights into the subtle nuances of the art form particularly the intricacies of abhinaya the sisters performed their arrangetram under her guidance dr vijayalakshmi also completed her vidwat examination and secured the third rank in the state however life dealt her a major blow on may 3 1995 when she was a returning to mangaluru after a performance at horanadu her car hit and boulder and toppled into a valley after a tyre expoded and the accident completely damaged the car and she suffered extensive injuries including fractures on her left leg and left hand and was confined to a wheelchair for over a year vijayalakshmi bore the pain stoically even as she wondered what would happen to her life in art but she was determined not to be cowed down i took strength by telling myself that i just had to wait it out and everything would be fine but there were times when i was totally frustrated and helpless she said vijayalakshmi had to undergo 56 surgeries on her leg and three on her hands there was a nerve injury that limited movement of her left handbut this did not stop her from becoming a ent surgeon and it was because her will that today she can do almost everything except lifting heavy weights her mothers efforts in getting jayalakshmi srinath to give vijayalakshmi home lessons and her agreeing to it was a boon she feels otherwise i would