The World of Limitless Possibilities

Why This Matters

Think about the worst day you can imagine. You are 29 years old. You love sport. You have your whole life ahead of you. Then a doctor tells you that you have a tumour in your spine. You have surgery. And after it, the news is even harder: you will be in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. You are paralysed from the waist down.

What would you do? Many people, in that moment, would feel that life is over.

This chapter is about a woman who heard exactly that news — and decided her life was just beginning. Her name is Dr. Deepa Malik. She became India’s first woman to win a medal at the Paralympic Games. The chapter is written as an interview: a reporter asks her questions, and she answers in her own words.

Why should you care? Because this is not really a story about sport, or even about disability. It is about a choice every single person faces. When something bad and unfair happens to you — a failure, a loss, a setback you did not deserve — you can sink into regret, or you can use it as a starting point. Dr. Malik’s answers show you, step by step, how a person actually makes that second choice. That lesson is for everyone, not just athletes.

The Big Idea

Here is the heart of the whole interview, in one breath.

The Big Idea: A setback does not have to shrink your life — it can open a world of limitless possibilities. Dr. Deepa Malik faced a diagnosis that took away the use of her legs, but she refused to let it take away her future. Her belief — “ability beyond disability” — means a person’s potential is decided by what they can do, not by what their body cannot do. With self-belief, a strong support system, and the courage to turn obstacles into stepping stones, even the hardest setback can become the start of something great.

Before we go further, a quick word on what kind of text this is — because that shapes how you read it.

📖 Where to read the original: This chapter is from your NCERT Kaveri (Grade 9) textbook, and the interview is recent, copyrighted material. So the full text is not reproduced here. Read the complete interview in your Kaveri book. This page gives you a clear summary, a line-by-line explanation of the key parts, and everything you need to answer exam questions — to study right alongside the textbook.

The Story, in Short

Here is what happens in the interview, in plain order.

The piece opens with a short note on the Paralympic Games — a global sports event for athletes with disabilities (of the body, the senses, or the mind). It explains that India first took part in 1968 and won its first medal in 1972. Then it introduces the star of the chapter, Dr. Deepa Malik, who has won the Khel Ratna, the Arjuna Award and the Padma Shri.

Then the interview begins. The interviewer asks how she “braved the odds” to become who she is. Dr. Malik explains the turning point of her life. At 29, she was diagnosed with a spine tumour. After surgery she was paralysed from the waist down and told she would always need a wheelchair. She says she had two choices — to waste her life in regret, or to turn it into “a world of limitless possibilities”. She chose the second. Because she already loved sport and had been a swimmer, she switched to para-athletics. Her big moment came at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, where she won a silver medal in the shot-put.

The interviewer points out her long list of “firsts” — the first Indian woman to win an Asian Games athletics medal, the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic medal in any sport. Dr. Malik says these honours prove her belief that physical limitations don’t define potential. She sums it up with her motto: “ability beyond disability”.

She then talks about her biggest challenge — not her body, but society’s attitude. People underestimated her. Beating that needed mental strength as much as physical strength. With her family’s support and her own toughness (her fortitude), she “turned obstacles into stepping stones”.

She explains how Paralympics challenge stereotypes: when people see the strength and skill of para-athletes, their fixed, wrong ideas break down. Paralympics, she says, gave her “a new lease of life”. Finally, she talks about her advocacy — her work for inclusivity, for disability rights, for women in sport, and for supporting poorer athletes with equipment. She ends with advice for anyone facing a setback: every setback is a chance to prove your strength, and disability is not a limitation; it’s a unique strength waiting to be unleashed.

The Text, Explained

Below are the most important moments of the interview, in order. Each short extract or idea is followed by a plain-language explanation of just that part. (For copyright reasons only brief quotations are used — the full interview is in your Kaveri textbook.)

1. The setback (her answer about the diagnosis). She was 29 when she was diagnosed with a spine tumour. After surgery, the doctors said she would be “bound to a wheelchair for the rest of my life”, paralysed waist-down.

Explanation: This is the lowest point of her life and the start of the whole story. Notice the word “bound” — it suggests being tied up, trapped. The doctors are describing a future that sounds fixed and hopeless. Everything that follows is about her refusing to accept that this is the whole story.

2. The two choices. She says she had two choices — “squander my life in remorse or transform it to a world of limitless possibilities.”

Explanation: This single line is the centre of the chapter, and the source of its title. “Squander” means to waste. “Remorse” means deep regret. So choice one is to waste her days feeling sorry for herself. Choice two is to transform — completely change — her life into something with no fixed limits. The power here is that she frames it as a choice, not a fate. The setback happened to her; the response is hers. Figure 5.1 lays out these two roads.

We will look closely at that fork in the road in a moment. First, here is the figure that maps it.

Tap to zoom

3. Why she could switch to sport so easily. She says she already loved sports and “had been a swimmer too”, so she decided to switch to para-athletics.

Explanation: This answers a question a careful reader would ask: why sport, of all things? Because sport was not new to her. She was already an athlete at heart. So she did not have to find a brand-new passion — she just changed how she did the thing she already loved. This is a useful real-life idea: when one door closes, look at the strengths you already have.

4. The breakthrough. Her “breakthrough moment” came at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, where she won silver in the shot-put. Looking back, she calls it a personal victory and “a step forward in changing perceptions”.

Explanation: A breakthrough is a sudden, important success after a long struggle. The medal mattered to her not just as a prize, but as proof — to herself and to the world — of what she could do. The phrase “in hindsight” means looking back, now that it has happened. It shows she is being thoughtful and reflective about her own journey.

5. “Ability beyond disability”. She says her achievements prove that “physical limitations don’t define one’s potential”, and that she supports the idea of “ability beyond disability”.

Explanation: This is her motto, and the most quotable line of the chapter. “Potential” means what you are capable of becoming. She is saying: do not measure a person by their disability. Measure them by their ability. The phrase deliberately puts “ability” first and “disability” second — the order itself carries the message.

6. The real challenge — society. She says her biggest challenge was “societal perceptions” — people underestimated her. Beating that needed mental resilience as well as physical strength. With her family’s support and her own fortitude, she “turn[ed] obstacles into stepping stones”.

Explanation: This is a key twist. You might expect her to say the hardest thing was her body. Instead she says it was other people’s attitudes. “Fortitude” means courage in the face of hardship. The phrase “turn obstacles into stepping stones” is a beautiful image: the very things that block your path can become the things you step on to move forward. Figure 5.4 draws this out.

7. The final advice. She tells people facing setbacks: surround yourself with support, believe in yourself, let your journey inspire others. And she ends: “disability is not a limitation; it’s a unique strength waiting to be unleashed.”

Explanation: “Unleashed” means set free — like letting a powerful thing loose. She flips the usual view completely. Most people see disability as something that holds you back. She calls it a hidden strength that just needs to be released. That re-framing — turning a “weakness” into a source of power — is the lesson she wants the reader to carry away.

Themes

The interview is short, but it carries a few big ideas. Each one is worth understanding why it matters, not just that it is there. The web in Figure 5.3 shows how they all grow from one root belief.

Here is that web before we walk through the themes one by one.

Tap to zoom

Resilience. Resilience is the ability to recover quickly from hard times — to bounce back. Dr. Malik’s whole story is resilience in action. She did not avoid the setback; she recovered from it and built something bigger. This matters because everyone faces hard times. The chapter shows resilience is not a magic gift — it is a series of choices.

Breaking stereotypes. A stereotype is a fixed, often wrong idea about a whole group of people — for example, “people with disabilities cannot achieve much”. Dr. Malik smashes that idea simply by winning. When people see a para-athlete’s strength and skill, their old assumptions “break down”. This matters because changing minds is how the world becomes fairer.

Self-belief and “ability beyond disability”. She succeeded because she believed in her own ability before anyone else did. This theme matters because it puts the power in the reader’s hands: the first person who has to believe in you is you.

The power of a support system. She is careful to credit her family. She did not do it alone. This matters because it is honest — even the strongest people need others. And it points the reader to a practical step: build a circle of people who back you.

Inclusivity and giving back. Once she succeeded, she turned to helping others — supporting poorer athletes, women in sport, and disability rights. This theme matters because it shows the goal is not just personal glory but a fairer society “where everyone, regardless of ability, is treated with dignity”.

Speaker & Voice — Who is Dr. Deepa Malik?

In an interview, the most important “character” is the person speaking. So let’s understand her clearly. Figure 5.2 lays out her journey on a timeline.

Here is that journey, stage by stage, before we discuss what kind of person it reveals.

Tap to zoom

Who is she? She is a para-athlete and advocate (a person who speaks up for a cause). But her voice in this interview tells you even more about her character:

• She is determined. She does not dwell on self-pity. She speaks of choices and action.
• She is reflective and honest. She admits the hardest part was other people’s attitudes, and she openly thanks her family. She does not pretend she did it all alone.
• She is positive and hopeful. Her tone is appreciative and optimistic. Words like “limitless”, “breakthrough” and “new lease of life” show someone who looks forward, not back.
• She is generous. Having succeeded, she now works to lift others up.

Her want is clear too. Early on she wanted to rebuild her own life. Later, that grew into a bigger want: to build a fairer society for all people with disabilities. Understanding that growth — from “I” to “we” — is key to understanding her.

Setting

The interview itself has no single physical setting — it is a conversation. But it draws on important backgrounds, and knowing them helps.

The key background is the world of the Paralympic Games and Special Olympics — global sporting stages for athletes with disabilities. This setting matters because it is public and international. Dr. Malik’s victories were not private. They happened in front of the world, on the same kind of stage as the Olympics. That is exactly why they could change so many minds.

The other “setting” is Indian society and its attitudes towards disability. Her struggle against “societal perceptions” only makes sense against this background of people who underestimated her. The chapter quietly asks the reader to look at their own attitudes.

Literary Devices

Even a real interview uses language with care. Naming the devices helps you answer exam questions and see why her words land so hard.

Metaphor. A metaphor is when we describe one thing as if it is another, to make a point — without using “like” or “as”. The clearest example is “turn obstacles into stepping stones”. Obstacles (problems) are not literally stones in a stream. But by calling them stepping stones, she shows that the very problems that block you can be used to carry you forward. Figure 5.4 makes this picture real.

Here is that metaphor drawn as a picture.

Tap to zoom

More metaphors. “A new lease of life” — a lease is a fresh rental agreement, so this means a fresh start, as if life had been handed back to her renewed. “Disability is a strength waiting to be unleashed” — unleashing is letting a powerful animal off its chain, so disability is pictured as a hidden, caged power.

Antithesis / contrast. This is when two opposite ideas are placed side by side for effect. The phrase “ability beyond disability” puts the two opposites together — and chooses ability over disability. “Disability is not a limitation; it’s a strength” does the same: it pushes one idea straight against its opposite to surprise you and make you think.

Tone. Tone is the feeling behind the words — here it is appreciative (grateful) and optimistic (hopeful). Even when describing the worst day of her life, she does not sound bitter. That hopeful tone is itself a kind of message.

The “Why” Behind It — Fact, Opinion, and the Power of an Interview

This is the deepest part of the chapter — the “nothing is a given” lens. Let’s close the why questions a careful reader would have.

Why is this written as an interview, and not as a normal story? Because an interview lets Dr. Malik speak in her own voice. If a writer described her life from outside, you would only get facts. But in her own words, you also get her feelings, her beliefs, and her tone. You feel her determination directly. That is far more powerful and inspiring than a list of achievements.

This is also why the chapter is a perfect place to practise telling fact from opinion — a real exam skill. A fact can be checked and proved. An opinion is a personal belief or feeling. In an interview, the two sit right next to each other. Figure 5.5 shows how to tell them apart using her own lines.

The chart below sorts two of her sentences into fact and opinion.

Tap to zoom

Why does she keep stressing that the real barrier was society, not her body? Because that is the chapter’s most challenging idea. We tend to think the problem with disability lives inside the disabled person. She corrects this. Often the bigger problem is outside — in the doubt and pity of everyone else. By naming “societal perceptions” as her main challenge, she gently asks the reader to fix their own attitude.

Why does the chapter matter beyond sport? Because the choice she faced — regret or transform — is universal. You will face setbacks that are smaller than hers, but the choice is the same shape. The interview is really a guide: believe in yourself, build a support system, use obstacles as steps, and let your story help others.

Common Misreadings

It is easy to take the wrong lesson from a story like this. Here are the traps — and the correct reading of each.

We’ll start with the most common one: thinking the chapter is only about sport.

Quick Check

Let’s see if the main ideas have stuck. Try these before moving to the practice questions.

Practice (Exam-style)

Now let’s turn understanding into exam-ready answers. Attempt each one yourself first, then reveal the model answer.

Short Answer

Long Answer

Reference to Context

Finally, let’s practise building an exam answer step by step, so you can do it on your own.

Summary

After studying this chapter, you should be able to explain:

• Who Dr. Deepa Malik is — a para-athlete who, after a spine tumour at 29 left her paralysed, became India’s first woman to win a Paralympic medal.
• The ‘two choices’ — to waste her life in regret, or to transform it into ‘a world of limitless possibilities’ — and why she chose the second.
• Her motto, ‘ability beyond disability’ — that potential is decided by what a person can do, not by their disability.
• Her real challenge — that the hardest barrier was ‘societal perceptions’, not her body.
• The key device, ‘turn obstacles into stepping stones’ — a metaphor for using your problems as steps forward.
• Fact versus opinion — how to tell a provable fact from a personal belief in an interview.
• Why the title fits and why the lesson — that a setback can be a new beginning — matters for everyone, not just athletes.

What’s Next

Dr. Malik’s interview showed how one real person turned a setback into strength. Next you will move from a true-life voice to a story with two characters and a shared piece of music. Get ready to look at how a tune can carry feeling and memory across time.

Continue to Chapter 6 — Twin Melodies.