MASTERCHEF’S LOKI: ‘THEY SAID I WOULDN’T SURVIVE’

Reality Reali cooking show Masterchef should sh be a breeze for happy-go-lucky Loki, who underwent his greatest challenge when he was just seven years old. While growing up in Chennai, India, the aspiring chef fell from a staircase and wound up in a coma. His injuries were so severe, se doctors warned Loki’s family fami his critical condition made mad it unlikely he’d survive. “It was a freak accident,” Loki tells us. “I was being naughty and trying t to slide down the railing, and I fell backwards. I hit my head and fractured my skull in several places. Doctors said it would be hard to save me,” he adds.

Loki was hospitalised for a month, and he spent two of those weeks in intensive care. He still remembers his time in hospital, and recalls a moment right before he was ushered into surgery.

“While the doctor was cutting my shirt off, he asked me what I wanted to be when I was older. I said a pilot or a chef. The doctor made fun of me and said, ‘Is that why you tried to jump off a building?’ I remember that vividly,” says the 34-year-old from Victoria.

Miraculously, Loki made a full recovery from the fall. And the lessons the stay-athome dad learned from the life-threatening accident have stayed with him ever since.

“Sometimes when I’m at home and not doing anything, I ask myself, ‘Why did I survive?’ I do feel lucky.” MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA Sunday-thursday, 7.30pm, Ten