Haji Ali spends most of his time nowadays playing with his siblings. The nine-year-old boy, born with a heart problem, is slowly discovering the joys of childhood after a surgery paid for by Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi proved successful.

The tsunami that killed thousands on India's coastline in December last year has given Ali a future he used to only dream of. The killer waves took away his home but brought him in touch with Oberoi, who was helping tsunami survivors rebuild their lives.

A successful surgery to close a hole in his heart means Ali can now finish his daily school hours without feeling over-exhausted like before. He can play with friends and his two siblings without running out of breath.

Ali was diagnosed with the heart complication early in childhood. Doctors had told his father Abdul Razzak that an operation would cost about Rs.100,000 ($2,300).

Razzak, a fisherman from Thevanapattinam village in Cuddalore district 350 km from here, tried to raise some money last year by selling clothes around. He hardly saved anything.

Then the tsunami struck Dec 26. Thevanapattinam, with 4,000 households, was one of the worst hit. "A week later, we heard a big actor from Mumbai was in the area, helping the survivors," recalls Razzak.

Hoping to get help for his ailing son, Razzak queued up with the villagers of Devanapattinam at a relief camp that Oberoi was visiting.

Razzak says Oberoi looked at Ali and promised help. Soon the child was moved to the Apollo hospital here.

On Jan 26, specialist Neville A.G. Solomon performed an open heart procedure to close the hole in Ali's heart. Oberoi footed the bill.

"A block was affecting the blood flow from the right heart chamber to the lungs (hampering supply of fresh oxygen to the blood)," Solomon, 36, told IANS.

"We closed the hole, allowing the blood to reach the lungs, get oxygen and move to the left chamber to be pumped to the rest of the body," he says.

About two weeks ago, Ali and his parents travelled from Thevanapattinam to Chennai to meet Solomon, and thank Oberoi who was visiting the city.

Ali also has a rheumatoid heart valve for which is taking medicines and injections. But he is slowly finding the zest for life.

Razzak says Ali is already desperate to return to school but has been asked to be patient and wait till June.

"He wants to grow up and be a doctor in a big hospital," says the father.

"Ali's was a very special case. It was very satisfying to see the child smile, laugh and talk freely," says Solomon, who has been inspired to set up a children's fund for poor heart patients like Ali.

Solomon knows it was as much medical science as luck that saved Ali. "If the tsunami had not happened, Oberoi would not have been in Cuddalore. And if he hadn't been there, Ali perhaps would never have come to Apollo," he says.