HYDERABAD, India, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - Twenty-eight-year-old Indian paraplegic Burla Sujata is totally dependent on her two helpers -- except when she sits behind her computer screen and plays the stock market.
Sujata, who used to run a photography studio, became interested in the stock market after losing use of her legs in a car accident six years ago when her car collided with a truck while on her way to a Hindu temple.
"After the accident, there was no life at all for me, no friends, no people, no supporters," said Sujata, who was also abandoned by her fiance after the accident.
"When you have everything, everybody is with you but when you lose everything, nobody is behind you," she said.
But feeling sorry for herself didn't suit Sujata.
"Because I was physically dependent, I decided to look for something that I could do independently," Sujata told AFP in her apartment in the southern high-tech city of Hyderabad.
She now has rebuilt her life by investing in India's rocketing stock market, which last year soared by a record 46.7 percent.
Sujata's achievement is even more remarkable as India's financial world is still heavily male dominated.
Sujata started out from scratch -- learning about investing in 2004.
"I had no business knowledge," she said. "I began studying the stock exchange rules, read financial books and magazines and watched business television channels."
She learned fast, and now trades through brokers on India's National Stock Exchange.
Five days a week, when the exchange is open, she sits glued to her computer screen watching the market, buying and selling shares that she feels represent "good value."
She says she carefully studies "the company's fundamentals" -- looking at its financial figures -- before investing in its shares.
She says her monthly trades total around 20 million rupees to 30 million rupees (US$493,785 - US$740,582). Out of this she takes a monthly income of 10 to 15 percent or between US$4,991 and US$7,626 -- a small fortune in India and more than enough to pay for all her needs.
Sujata now has set her sights on setting up her own investment house.
"Two years after the accident, I felt very dependent. Now I have the feeling I can do everything like anybody else, like any normal person. I am financially independent."
Sujata believes that her experience has made her a stronger person.
"I was a strong person. But after the accident, I became much stronger," she says.
She now has rebuilt her life by investing in India's rocketing stock market, which last year soared by a record 46.7 percent.
