India, May 15 -- Nandini Dasgupta was like any other young girl on the threshold of a new chapter. She was engaged. She had dreams of her big day-of dancing in a red Benarasi saree, gold jingling at her wrists, eyes full of mischief and laughter. She imagined walking down the aisle, her mother wiping away tears, her fiance gazing at her with awe.

She was beautiful-not just in the way her skin glowed or how her long dark hair swayed in the breeze-but in that rare way people carry joy and confidence within them. Heads would turn when she walked into a room. She never paid much attention to it, but somewhere deep down, it made her feel special. Whole. Enough.

And then, in a moment that would tear her world apart, a road accident left her a...