Pranab waited eagerly outside the operating room for good news. Inside, his wife was being operated upon to deliver their first baby via caesarean section.

For Pranab and his wife, it was a big occasion. His wife had finally carried a baby to full term after three miscarriages and many years of tests and treatments. In fact, they had sold all of their property to pay for his wife’s treatment.

But when the operating room door opened, the doctor was not smiling. He informed Pranab that his wife had delivered a baby boy, but the boy had a facial deformity.

When Pranab saw the baby, he shouted “What a deformed baby! He looks like a monster! Why us? What have we done to be punished like this? How are we going to face the world?”

Pranab entered the hospital room where his wife she lay. Tears were rolling down her face. He held her tightly and they both wept at their misfortune.

When Pranab heard that there was a doctor in Guwahati who was treating children with similar deformities, free of charge, a sense of hope entered their lives. However, they would have to wait a few months for the baby to be old enough for the treatment.

For those months, whenever they had visitors, they lied that the baby was sent away for treatment. They could not bear to see the look of disgust in the visitors faces.

Finally the day arrived for them to take the baby to The Smile Train Center where Dr. Seema Rekha Devi was the project director. But the journey to Guwahati was terrible. As they traveled by train, curious onlookers stared every time the baby cried - they could see everything inside his mouth up to his throat.

On reaching the hospital, it was very reassuring to see a smiling doctor and the number of children who had been transformed after surgery. It was as if the doctor had touched them with a magic wand!

Rishav’s surgery was a complete success! Pranab felt that that Rishav looked so normal that people thought the redness in his scar was just because of a cold and running nose. Pranab thanked God and The Smile Train doctors for making this surgery possible totally free of cost.