Wednesday, April 7, 2010

GIRL ABANDONED BY BROTHER


(A nurse tries to talk to Pooja, who was abandoned by her brother on Monday)

Tribune News Service


Panchkula, July 12, 2004.

She stares into nothingness for hours together. The pain in her huge eyes, set in the pale face, is apparent the moment you look at her. In a state of shock, she would not even know that you have called her several times, unless you shake her out of her shell. But ask her about her family, and the eight-year-old girl breaks down and is inconsolable.

The little girl, who says that her name is Pooja, was abandoned by her brother last night. Her parents died a few years ago, and she had been staying with her brother in a jhuggi in Sector 15. According to Pooja, her brother, whose name she does not reveal, was without work for quite some time. Yesterday, he took her on a rickshaw, on the plea of taking her to the market in Sector 15. Once they reached the Raghunath Mandir, Sector 15, he took her inside and then quietly disappeared.

After waiting for him for quite some time, she got panicky and started crying. A few devotees at the temple saw the child crying inconsolably, and tried to pacify her. It was then that Mr Mansa Ram Ahuja, a social worker, approached the child and tried to ask her about her family. The girl told him that she was not keeping well and that her brother had deserted her.

Since the girl had an injury on her foot and was weak because of malnutrition, he took her to General Hospital, Sector 6. The girl is now undergoing treatment here, but is unable to tell her brother’s name or where they were staying. Doctors attending on her say that she is weak and after receiving medical aid, she will be shifted to Bal Sadan in Sector 15

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