Raai Laxmi on her 19-month recovery after accident: ‘I came out stronger’

I went through a major boat accident in which I was thrown about 20 ft into the air and landed back on the boat. I suffered three fractures, including one in my back, as well as a ligament injury. The doctors kept reassuring me that I would recover with time and physiotherapy. Many people advised me to have surgery, but I wasn’t convinced it was the right option for me. I sought opinions from doctors in the US and elsewhere and eventually decided to let my body

heal naturally. The pain was severe, and initially I couldn’t even get up or move around. I had to lie completely flat.

After about eight or nine months, I was able to get back on my feet and begin physiotherapy. In total, it took me around 18 to 19 months to fully recover. Even then, I was told there might be things I wouldn’t be able to do again, such as dancing or wearing heels. But, by God’s grace, I recovered, and I’m completely back to normal.

The experience taught me a lot about patience and brought me closer to spirituality. When you’re at home for months with very little you can do, you learn to take things one day at a time, pray and focus on getting better. Having my family around was also a beautiful part of that journey. In many ways, it became a beautiful journey because I came out of it stronger.

No, if anything, it’s become a little more intense. I’ve experimented with different kinds of training now. Earlier, I mainly did women’s workouts, played sports and things like that. These days, I focus much more on strength training, along with very specific exercises for my back to make sure it stays strong and supported. I spent another four to six months training specifically to strengthen my back and get it back to normal. I had lost a lot of muscle during my recovery because when you’re barely moving and lying in one position for such a long time, your body changes completely.

It also took time for my body to remember how to bend and move freely again. When I first started physiotherapy, I had almost forgotten what it felt like to move without restrictions or even know how far I could bend. I also did a lot of aqua therapy and trained in the water, which takes some of the pressure off the body. It was all part of a long recovery.

I had actually gained quite a bit of weight during that period. It wasn’t extremely noticeable, but I had lost a lot of muscle. I also love carbs, and there’s this myth that you shouldn’t eat them. I’m completely a carb person, but I think it’s important to know which carbs to eat and when to eat them.

I eat roughly every two hours, but in controlled portions. I don’t eat anything that leaves me feeling completely full. Apart from that, I eat pretty much everything. I don’t follow one particular diet. I spend a lot of time at the gym and playing sports, alongside my work and everything else I do.

During my recovery, I had a lot of time to focus on myself, so fitness became less about losing weight and more about building muscle. I approached it very methodically, figuring out what worked for me and what didn’t. There was no shortcut; it was a slow and steady process, which is why it took almost two years.

When it first happened, I kept wondering, “How am I going to pass the time?” But I soon realised I didn’t even have time to think about that because there was always so much going on. That was when I truly realised how many wonderful friends I had. They would come over, spend hours with me and keep me company. I’d eventually have to tell them, “You have to go, it’s 3 am!”

I think it’s in the hardest moments of your life that you realise what you’ve truly earned, and I feel incredibly blessed to have seen how many people were willing to stand by me. I hardly noticed the first six or seven months passing. There were so many uncertainties, but you learn to keep going, trust the process and have faith. That was probably the biggest lesson for me — learning to be patient, having faith and allowing my body the time it needed to heal.

For me, it was about training my mind to think positively and focusing on what I could do rather than constantly asking, “Why did this happen to me?” or “How long is this going to take?” Spirituality helped me enormously because that’s where I drew my strength from. It gave me the trust and faith to believe that everything was going to be okay.