She
wants to make friends. She wants to hangout. She wants to move. She wants to be
loved. She loves her mother. But she doesn’t want to go back to her home.
Geeta
is in her 20’s. Abandoned by her family, she is youngest of six brothers and
sisters. Her father is no more and mother is ill and cannot move. All other
sisters and brothers are married. Busy in their lives, they found her a burden
and decided to abandon her.
Her
bones are deformed and she cannot use her legs and hands. She had an attack of
high fever at an early age and probably the subsequent lack of treatment and
care led to more deformities in her body. She cannot walk and literally drags
her body to move from one place to other. Her mental status is more like of an
innocent child.
Yes
innocent she is. She is so welcoming and jovial. She has studied till 5th
standard and loves to read ‘bhajans’ and devotional songs. She has memorized
some like this ‘Durga Chalisa’.
She
has been given shelter by ‘Guru Vishram Vriddha Ashram at Badarpur, Delhi. She says
she cannot make friends at the old-age home as most of them are behaving
abnormally most of the time. (Most of the residents of this old-age home are
mentally-ill.) And that is the major problem. Geeta has to be moved from this
place to some place where she can find people like her, in her age-group, in
the care of specially trained and sensitive staff who can respond positively to
the mental and physical conditions of such people. She needs to be in a place
where she can find extension to her thoughts; where she can learn basics of
life; where she can find friends to share her routine life.
I
have been trying to locate a place for her but have not come across even one. I
had started thinking about it when Michelle Kumar (from Anurakti-an initiative
by FICCI employees) had first talked to me about Geeta’s case. When I met her I
realized the urgency in prioritizing the need to find a suitable place for her.
If there isn’t any such place, it is gross folly of the system and the society.
People like Geeta are well into the category of people who can be trained to be
self dependent in their day-to-day lives as well can be given some vocational training
to earn something. A campaign should be worked out to raise this demand. We will
work that out.
Geeta
has all the rights to have a dignified life like you and me. And while working
on Geeta’s case we need to keep in mind that Geeta is not the standalone case.