Over the next few days we all got to know each other and built up mutual trust – visiting local events such as a fair where Lakshmi was widely hailed as a Goddess. What wasn’t in doubt was Dr Patil’s conviction that he could help Lakshmi, and that he wanted her to travel to Bangalore for tests. He left the parents with this offer – and we remained to document their struggle with their consciences, as they debated with themselves whether to trust Dr Patil and leave their village for a faraway city they knew nothing about. We knew we had their trust – but as documentary makers, it was a fine line to tread between not influencing their decision and making sure they understood that we would be there to protect them and that our belief was that medical science could help Lakshmi. In the end the parents had no doubts. They had to make the leap into the unknown. It was the parent’s journey – but our responsibility to make sure they got to Bangalore safely…

People are poor and rarely travel far in India and are easy targets for harassment and exploitation. At least once we delivered them into the hospital in Bangalore we knew they were safe. From a film-making perspective it was easier too… ready electrical power, and air-conditioning that rescued our cameras from malfunctioning from the humidity. It was the doctors’ job now to prepare for the operation – conducting the detailed scans and tests to establish Lakshmi’s internal structures, and also to ensure she was fit and healthy enough to withstand what was going to be a massive procedure. Coming from such a poor family in such a poor area, she was physically malnourished and infected with worms and other parasites. Under the guidance of Chief Paediatric Surgeon Dr Ashley D’Cruz, the doctors decided she needed over a month to be ready for the operation.

I remember on the day and night of the operation (it started at 8am on November 6th and didn’t finish until 4am the next day) that only myself and the cameraman were allowed into the operating room alongside the medical team. It was extraordinary to be in there – overnight Lakshmi’s story had gripped the world and all the Indian news channels were running continuous updates – watching these surgeons taking on the biggest challenge of their careers. Mostly they were calm – only just before the parasitic twin was removed did one of them confess to me that he feared that the blood loss was too rapid and that Lakshmi would not sustain it – but as the night wore on and success seemed more certain the more elated they became (I remember they had an Ipod playing a selection of eighties British rock music, which struck me as mildly bizarre). When Lakshmi left the theatre just before 4am I remember seeing Sneh catching sight of Lakshmi with two legs for the first time and bursting into uncontrollable tears – and for me this summed up the whole experience, and how we had all become emotionally dragged into the fight for life of this one-in-a-million baby girl.