THE voice of the woman on the other end of the line was surprisingly chirpy and confident. Not frightened. Not bitter. Not distrustful of the media.

She was a far cry from the shattered Farzana I met two years ago.

Only 18 at the time of the crash, the Singapore Airlines (SIA) stewardess had stayed behind to direct passengers away from the blazing wreck of SQ006. In doing so, she ended up with burns over 45 per cent of her body.

Overnight, Ms Farzana became a heroine. But it was also the beginning of the darkest hours of her life.

Sure, politicians, the media and ordinary Singaporeans alike hailed her courage and fighting spirit. And for them, she put on a brave face.

But behind that plucky exterior hid a bruised soul and a battered spirit. A young girl who had her dreams crushed, her beauty scarred, her confident, bubbly self overcome by bitterness, fear and insecurity.

That was the woman I met in October 2006, six years after the tragedy that claimed 83 lives. Then, Ms Farzana had just settled her civil suit against SIA out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Last month , a different woman greeted me over the phone from Kuala Lumpur.

'I just gave birth!' Ms Farzana, now 26, cooed.

Just 12 hours earlier, she had become the proud mother of a bouncing baby boy. Ms Farzana now lives in KL with her 43-year-old Malaysian husband.

'Yes, I got married last September,' she said excitedly. Two years ago, Ms Farzana could not even imagine herself with a man.

Though the burns on her face were by then no longer visible (she had 11 skin grafts in Singapore and the US), she was still self-conscious about her looks.

Long-sleeved tops and trousers hid the scars on her arms and legs. For years, except for the occasional picture she granted the media, she dared not step in front of the camera.

After she and her boyfriend broke up less than a year after the crash (due to personal differences), she did not date anyone else.

But she found love when she moved to Malaysia last year. Ms Farzana and her remisier husband, Mr Don Yazid Mohamed Noor, had been friends since 2001.

Mr Yazid, who has a 12-year-old daughter from his first marriage, said: 'We never got into a relationship because she had her own problems to deal with, and I had my own life.'

When Ms Farzana moved to KL, she called Mr Yazid because she did not have many friends there.

They soon fell in love. A few months later, they tied the knot. Ms Farzana was insecure at first. But Mr Yazid told her he did not mind how she looked.

'All I know is that she will make a good wife and mother,' he said. 'Just the other night, the baby had a fever and she was up the whole night taking care of him.'

Bitter in S'pore, reborn in KL

The climb back to normalcy has been difficult.

After the crash, Ms Farzana said she was consumed with what she had lost - her career, her beauty, her social life - and she became obsessed with getting her old life back.

'My life after the crash was miserable. I was unhappy, confused and lost all the time,' she recalled.

'I was still young. All I could think about was losing my dream to fly, losing my beauty.'

Mr Melvin Singh, who was The New Paper's associate editor at the time of the crash and who had interviewed Ms Farzana, said his heart went out to her.

'She was only 18 and six months into the job. What she did was remarkable for someone so inexperienced and young.'

The constant attention from the media and the public also took its toll. She was especially hurt by criticisms that she cared too much about her looks.

In December 2000, she gave The New Paper her first picture out of her bandages at her home.

But we decided against showing her face. She feared further flak for agreeing to having her pictures taken. We wanted to respect her wishes.

Not being able to get another job - not even as a waitress - after she had recovered was yet another blow to her confidence.

After all, her SIA career had looked set to soar - she was given long-haul flights not normally given to junior flight attendants.

Dreams of a successful career were replaced by nightmares. She would develop a fear of flying.

And she was constantly looking for someone to blame for the tragedy.

'My problem was that I was clinging on to a past I wasn't going to get back,' she said.

So she packed her bags and headed to Johor Baru, hoping to start life afresh.

There, she got a simple clerical job.

She then moved to KL early last year, where the fast-paced city life would remind her of Singapore.

And she has not looked back since.

'In Malaysia, I feel happier, more free. I don't feel trapped anymore. And I found a new self,' she said.

Her husband sees her transformation.

'She used to throw tantrums. Now, she has mellowed and become more patient,' he said.

But while the pain has eased, memories of the tragedy do flood back from time to time.

Ms Farzana said: 'The scars will always be there to remind me. I think the one positive thing I will take away from the experience is living to tell the story.'

And thanks to her, so are several other people onboard flight SQ006.

This article was first published in The New Paper on Aug 21, 2008.