Meet the girl who's winning hearts in McDonald's India's 'inclusive' burger box ad

It takes two hands to devour a big, fat, juicy burger without making a mess out of it. But what about people who can't hold a burger tight and nice because either their fingers are weak or they are short of a hand? Paulami Patel from Mumbai is one of them. She lost her right hand to electrocution at the age of 12 and has since struggled to eat outside by herself and almost never without inviting looks and questions from other diners. But thanks to a new initiative, amputees like her now have the chance to enjoy burgers on their own.

Last month, McDonald's India launched a new box to serve burgers to people with limited upper arm mobility in their West and South outlets. Earlier the burger came wrapped in paper or laid horizontally in a box, which one had to lift with both hands to prevent the sauce, patty and salad from sliding off. But this box allows the burger to be had vertically.

A deceptively simple-looking packaging, it's made of two flaps. Customers can remove the upper flap with one hand and then lift the base flap to eat the burger it keeps together. Called EATQUAL, the new box was revealed in an ad commercial last week and features Patel playing herself.

With a little over 6,000 views, the ad might not have gone viral yet but there's no dearth of messages congratulating Patel for being the inspiration she is. "I was approached for the ad randomly on my social media and the concept hit home. Others don't realise how much mental calculation amputees like me have to do just to be able to hold or open things," says the 31-year-old, who works in her family business.

But life wasn't always like this. "I was visiting my cousins in Hyderabad in 2001 as I did every summer vacation. We were playing with a rod in the balcony. It slipped and got stuck on a high-tension cable wire that ran close to the window of my uncle's house. I went to retrieve the rod and touched the live wire accidentally. A current of 11,000 voltage passed through my body and I was thrown back," recalls Patel.

A deceptively simple looking packaging, it's made of two flaps. Customers can remove the upper flap with one hand and then lift the base flap to eat the burger it keeps together

What happened next is a blur to her because she was unconscious but she's told she arrived at the ICU, with her 12-year-old body bleeding - 80 per cent burnt, flesh melted and wrists twisted. A week later, her right hand was amputated to restrict the gangrene (dead tissue) from spreading over the body. "I woke up after the surgery and felt something was amiss. My mother was refusing to remove the blanket over my right hand. But when she did, I burst into tears."

Next eight months were spent on critical surgeries. "Since my left hand had no flesh on it, it was stitched to my abdomen to help transfer the tissue on it (called flap grafting). My calf muscles were cut open and the sensory nerves inside it were grafted on to my left hand. The flesh from my thighs was used to cover the open parts of my body," Patel recollects the painful time matter-of-factly, perhaps because she has gone over it multiple times as a motivational speaker in colleges and online, and knows that none of it was her fault.

"Yes, my parents and I are angry. Had the civic authorities not carelessly stretched a live wire close to the house, the accident could have been avoided. But I have embraced my reality now and taught myself to be independent as much as possible."

Close to 50 surgeries later, Patel can now eat and wear clothes and makeup with the left hand while she slips on a prosthetic arm to her right to drive and write. From water sports to bungee jumping, she's done it all. "I was a kid when the accident happened. At that age, we have that enthusiasm to learn and unlearn, and I think that's why I could adapt to a new life much easily." Not to mention, her dad made a rule that anybody visiting her had to crack a joke. Her school allowed her to come in casual because the uniform was difficult to wear. Her classmates helped her take the toilet break. Her mother travelled for two hours just to feed her during the lunch break.

But college was a new world, an intimidating one. "Students looked at me weirdly and if they enquired about my hand, I would nod my head and walk away timidly. I wanted to discontinue the college but thankfully, my mother talked me out of it, and soon, I found a group who understood me. That's also where I met my future husband, Sundeep."

With time, Patel became comfortable in her skin but admits that the world remains a maze of challenges as it has been designed by normal people, for normal people. "I avoid using bathrooms in public spaces because the wrist and fingers of my left hand are still bent and I can't rotate the knob to open the door. I still can't close the button and zip on my jeans, so I put on elastic pants and skirts. I can't bathe my baby girl and put her diapers on alone. India needs to redesign a lot of spaces and things to make it accessible for the differently-abled."

A vertical burger box is an initiative well-begun, she believes.