He was forced to leave his family and home in Uttar Pradesh for a living. He could not bear the separation and gradually became a person with learning disabilities. Somehow, he reached the city and by a stroke of luck and unconditional support from a poor couple, he finally won over the trauma and went back to his family after seven years.
Vinod Sahni, a youth from a remote village in eastern UP, left his native place and family to work in a weaving mill in Ludhiana. Though he was reluctant to leave his root, his wife insisted on his going. Being a village youth, Vinod could not adapt to city life or bear the detachment from his village. He left Ludhiana after a few days without informing anybody after which he remained untraced. For his family, he was dead. But finally, Vinod got back to his family and his parents embraced him with tears swelling in their eyes.
All these were possible because of a group of people who, despite living on pavements, extended support to the unknown vagabond and helped him get back to normal life.
“Around three years back, we suddenly spotted the youth staying on the pavement close to our tea stall. He was not in sound health. He would often soil the pavement and others who stayed there were annoyed with him and tried to drive him out,” said Lalti Devi, a middle-aged tea stall owner.
It was Banani Nath, a social worker attached with Iswar Sankalpa — an NGO that works with people with special needs, who first spotted the youth.
“Initially, he refused to cooperate. He communicated with me for the first time after more than six months,” said Banani.
After a medical checkup, Lalti and her husband Kumar took responsibility of the youth.
“The couple used to feed him and would mix medicines with the food initially,” said Sarbani Das Roy, secretary of the organization.
It took nearly a year to bring about some normalcy in the youth.
Next, he was taken to a centre near Hastings where he underwent different therapies. All this while, Vinod got a new identity — Chuni — to the Singh couple and members of Iswar Sankalpa.
“Chuni responded well to treatment and, for the last one year, he started doing odd jobs like cleaning cars,” said Banani.
But, he used to stay at the same spot on the pavement near the crossing of CIT Road and Suresh Sarkar Road at night.
“He kept some money with me. He wanted to start a business,” said Lalti, who took care of an unknown youth for months.
Some weeks ago, he slowly managed to recount his past, his village and address. With the help of Hasting police station, his family was informed.
On Monday, Lalti and Kumar handed over Vinod — Chuni to them — to his family members.
With tears in their eyes, they assured Chuni that they would definitely visit his village home.
-(The Times of India)
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