Rest in Peace. They were our resident.
Expired (Cancer)
Expired (Renal Failure)
Expired (Cancer)
Expired (Cancer)
Expired (Cancer)
Expired (Renal Failure)
Manju Aita Funeral
Address: Seneh, 31, Nizara Path, Narakasur, Kahilipara, Guwahati-781019, Assam, India
Phone: +918753908043/+919810791818
Email: acbarua@gmail.com
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Urmila was picked up from a village near Tongla of Sonitpur district of Assam. We were informed of Urmila by a young man of the area who took pity on this blind woman who lived on a hutment and survived on alms given by villagers. He came to know about Seneh because of a piece of news about us broadcasted by a local T V channel.
Urmila has nobody in the World whom she can claim as her relation. Born in a poor villagers family, she had three other siblings. All of them died in their prime. She lost her mother when she was eight and father when she was fourteen. The villagers got her married to a small time contractor. They had a son out of this wedlock. With a modest earning , a caring husband , and an intelligent son, for 22 years Urmila had a satisfying life till tragedy stuck. Her husband died in Guwahati Medical College hospital because of acute pneumonia. She started living with her son as the only hope with the modest savings her husband left in a hired accommodation. She would augment her finances working as part time maid. The son was quite intelligent, topped in his class, represented the school in football. He turned 17 and appeared in the matriculation examination. Urmila was happy, satisfied and a proud mother But cruel destiny once again played havoc on her. Her son contacted pneumonia and died in the same hospital where she lost her husband on the day when his matriculation results were announced. Urmila was left all alone in life.
This tiny brave woman did not loose her cool. She had no money since all she had was spent on the treatment of her husband and son. She started working hard as part time maid to earn her living, spend her spare time visiting different households and taking part in all festivities in these houses. But God would not allow her peace. Gradually she lost her vision and ultimately was not able to go out without help. A good Samaritan in the locality took her to his home and gave her food and clothes to wear. She lived with him for a year when we got her to Seneh.
Thanks to the efforts of the ophthalmologists of Sankardeva Netralaya, Guwahati and our team of dedicated employees, Urmila today is no longer blind. It was a lovely sight to see Urmila walk in, dancing in glee, after the bandage of the eye operated first was opened. Today this diminutive beautiful woman in her early seventies is a mine of energy and the centre of inspiration for all. She always wears the most beautiful toothless smile in the World. You visit Seneh and you will find Urmila appearing within minutes with a cup of tea beaming with her beautiful smile.
Ashalata, around sixty, normally moody, confused and complaining about imaginary sicknesses that Doctors feel she is shaming, is otherwise a beautiful woman with healthy teeth and pleasing countenance. Life had never been easy for her. Born to a Hindu family, they migrated to Assam from Bangladesh in 1971 with her husband and son. They settled in Assam in rural Kamrup, Assam . The husband with his money which he brought from Bangladesh bought some land. The hard working man worked hard on his land with gusto and they had a good life till her husband started philandering. , One fine evening, he brought an another woman to their house. With pain she accepted it. But within another two years he brought an another woman to their home and proclaimed her as his third wife. That was not the end. A few years there after, he got fed up with his three wives and brought in another young woman home and proclaimed her as his fourth wife.
Ashalata unable to look after his harem took her son and left her home and landed up in Guwahati. She was given shelter by one Rai Bahadur , ( We are unable to locate a Rai Bahadur at Guwahati) , worked there as a domestic help till one day her so one day her son, around eleven by then, who was sent to fetch milk by the ‘Rai Bahadur’ did not return back home. She ran around asking everyone about his whereabout, went to the Police, but the boy could not be traced. Unable to bear the loss and suspecting Rai Bahadurs complicity in the disappearance of her son , who was a hand some lad, she left Rai Bahadur’s house and changed eight places as household help till last year a couple who refused to even sign a mandatory form accepting that she was brought by them, dumped her at Seneh. It took us some times to make Ashalata accept her new bearings, but gradually she is adopting very well to the sisterly attitude of all the residents of Seneh and is taking part in all its activities.
Ashalata, around sixty, normally moody, confused and complaining about imaginary sicknesses that Doctors feel she is shaming, is otherwise a beautiful woman with healthy teeth and pleasing countenance. Life had never been easy for her. Born to a Hindu family, they migrated to Assam from Bangladesh in 1971 with her husband and son. They settled in Assam in rural Kamrup, Assam . The husband with his money which he brought from Bangladesh bought some land. The hard working man worked hard on his land with gusto and they had a good life till her husband started philandering. , One fine evening, he brought an another woman to their house. With pain she accepted it. But within another two years he brought an another woman to their home and proclaimed her as his third wife. That was not the end. A few years there after, he got fed up with his three wives and brought in another young woman home and proclaimed her as his fourth wife.
Ashalata unable to look after his harem took her son and left her home and landed up in Guwahati. She was given shelter by one Rai Bahadur , ( We are unable to locate a Rai Bahadur at Guwahati) , worked there as a domestic help till one day her so one day her son, around eleven by then, who was sent to fetch milk by the ‘Rai Bahadur’ did not return back home. She ran around asking everyone about his whereabout, went to the Police, but the boy could not be traced. Unable to bear the loss and suspecting Rai Bahadurs complicity in the disappearance of her son , who was a hand some lad, she left Rai Bahadur’s house and changed eight places as household help till last year a couple who refused to even sign a mandatory form accepting that she was brought by them, dumped her at Seneh. It took us some times to make Ashalata accept her new bearings, but gradually she is adopting very well to the sisterly attitude of all the residents of Seneh and is taking part in all its activities.
Ashalata, around sixty, normally moody, confused and complaining about imaginary sicknesses that Doctors feel she is shaming, is otherwise a beautiful woman with healthy teeth and pleasing countenance. Life had never been easy for her. Born to a Hindu family, they migrated to Assam from Bangladesh in 1971 with her husband and son. They settled in Assam in rural Kamrup, Assam . The husband with his money which he brought from Bangladesh bought some land. The hard working man worked hard on his land with gusto and they had a good life till her husband started philandering. , One fine evening, he brought an another woman to their house. With pain she accepted it. But within another two years he brought an another woman to their home and proclaimed her as his third wife. That was not the end. A few years there after, he got fed up with his three wives and brought in another young woman home and proclaimed her as his fourth wife.
Ashalata unable to look after his harem took her son and left her home and landed up in Guwahati. She was given shelter by one Rai Bahadur , ( We are unable to locate a Rai Bahadur at Guwahati) , worked there as a domestic help till one day her so one day her son, around eleven by then, who was sent to fetch milk by the ‘Rai Bahadur’ did not return back home. She ran around asking everyone about his whereabout, went to the Police, but the boy could not be traced. Unable to bear the loss and suspecting Rai Bahadurs complicity in the disappearance of her son , who was a hand some lad, she left Rai Bahadur’s house and changed eight places as household help till last year a couple who refused to even sign a mandatory form accepting that she was brought by them, dumped her at Seneh. It took us some times to make Ashalata accept her new bearings, but gradually she is adopting very well to the sisterly attitude of all the residents of Seneh and is taking part in all its activities.
Usha ,around seventy, is hardly four feet tall but she is a bundle of energy. Anyone who visits Seneh will find the sprightly Usha running with folded hands to greet him/her before even others react. Usha was born to a poor family in present day Bangladesh. Her father was a help in a Zamindars family. She had four siblings. At the tender age of twelve she was married to a small time grocer. After 71 war, fearing their lives because of religious persecution , they fled Bangladesh, crossed the border through a riverine route. Was caught at Border by BSF, bribed them a Hundred Rupee each and entered Assam and crossed the Brahmaputra and started living at Dhekiajuli not far away from Tezpur with one of their relations. Later they shifted to Fakiragram near Bengal border. There her husband bought a small piece of land, constructed a hut, and started a business of making and selling puffed rice, beaten rice and few other popular eatables of the poor. They elked out a living and had three daughters. The eldest two ran away with their suitors from alien lands ( Punjab ) and the third got married to a salesman of a small hardware shop at Guwahati. They adopted a boy with the hope that he will see them through in their old age. Unfortunately by twenty, he became a nuisance. Then six years back her husband died. By that time the adopted boy brought in a ruthless woman as his wife .
After the demise of her husband both of them started torturing her. She was forced to do all the house hold works but quite often denied her food. The woman would beat her for flimsiest of reason. Unable to bear the humiliation she left her home and took the earliest train without any ticket or anything other than what she was wearing till she was detrained at Kokrajar. There she lived for two months on the platform. She did not know how to beg or so proud, she could not beg and lived days without food. Sometimes some good Samaritans would throw morsels at her or she will scavenge the left over food on the platform. She was retrieved from the platform by a few well meaning young men and woman and handed over to us for shelter. Today Usha is so energetic she runs around hopping like a sparrow and greets everyone with her captivating grin and a Namaste. She says aloud to all and sundry she has got back her life of dignity and comfort.
Jinu Devi was born in a viillage near Mangaldoi on the north bank of Brahmaputra in a economically middle class family. She was interested for social service from her early childhood and so after graduating she decided to abandon family life and join the Kasturba Ashram training at Guwahati. At the age of twenty in 1985 she joined Kashturba Ashram despite opposition from the family. After one year of training she was sent to different places all over Assam for social works. She also went to Kashturba Gram at Madhya pradesh for further training and social works in 1991 and stayed there up to 1999. In 2000 she decided to work for the most down trodden section of society and so joined the Gandhi Sewashram at Wardha in Maharastra and served the people till 2013. When she heard the news of death of her mother, she came back to Assam in the month of March, 2013. But her tragedy started when she started to live in her own home.
Her only sibling her sister made all the property in her name. Though Jinu stayed there for an year, she was always mistreated and asked to go out. Her sister even engaged the neighbours to press Jinu to go away as she earlier left her house at her own will. When she could not face the mental torture anymore she came back to Guwahati Kashturba Ashram. Due to her ill health she was also not able to do social works any more. Kashturba Ashram informed her that she can not live there permanently as she earlier resigned at the time of joining Gandhi Ashram at Wardha. So she had nowhere to go. When she heard about “Seneh” she requested for shelter here and joined this home in the month of March 2015.
Jharna , fifty five, is the latest to join the ‘Seneh’ family. Hailing from a BPL family her father was a daily wage earner and the mother would do household works in different houses. Jarna had five siblings, five sisters and two brothers. Jharna went to school but had to give up her schooling when she was in the fifth grade since she had to help her parents in earning by doing household works in others houses. She however continued her studies at home in her spare time of her own till she was able to read and write well. When about thirty, in the year of 1986, she got married to a boy hailing from a nearby village. She started her married life with a happy note. Her husband, who worked in a match factory was extremely loving and caring. Within a year a boy was born to her. Misfortune started two years after their married life when her husband lost his job as the match factory closed its shutters. The couple did not give up. Both worked as house hold workers and left no leaf unturned to educate their only son. Their son was a brilliant student and passed his matriculation with flying colours. He joined a nearby college to pursue further studies. After two years in college, one day their son suddenly fell ill with very high fever. Within a span of 24 hours he breathed his last without any proper medication. Probably he contacted encaphalities. Suddenly the sky dropped down on their head.
Jhrana was dumb stuck and could not even utter a word for next few months. Her husband’s health too declined. His heart would not work properly. Jharna tried her best to save her husband. She took her husband to a renowned heart hospital at Guwahati for treatment but in vain. She could not save her husband. He died in the year 2011. She staked everything she had for his treatment and lost everything, her small hut and whatever they saved in their 25 years of married life. With no shelter or means of livelihood she took shelter in her only surviving brother’s house. She was not a welcome guest and faced ill treatment every day. Exasperated and completely heart broken, she searched for safe shelter. She read about ‘Seneh’ in a local daily and contacted us. When she narrated her story we got her to ‘SENEH’. At ‘Seneh’ she in no time endeared herself to all. She is an expert cook and in high demand from the other residents of ‘Seneh’.
Shefali, 70 years of age,is unable to remember coherently about her past because of dementia. We pieced together tit bits from what she narrated below.
She originally hailed from earstwhile East Bengal ( Now Bangla Desh).The family migrated to Kolkata because of partition. At Kolkata her father died leaving her mother with two kids alone in the refugee camp. Sometimes in fifties her mother took her two children , Shefali and her kid brother, and came to Guwahati in pursuit of a job. She started working as a part time help in two houses and lived in a make shift house. Shefali around fifteen then, started helping her mother when a suitor came and married her. He worked as a supervisor in some place. They had a son. Around thirty years back he moved to Shillong and started working there. The family lived quite happily till her husband cheated on her and started seeing a Khasi woman. Quite often he would live with this woman leaving Shefali alone for days with her child. Later he took his son also with him . One day he came to her and told her he wants to leave Shillong immediately with her leaving behind the child with the other woman. Shefali cannot remember the reason.
Accordingly both of them got into a bus to Guwahati. But on way to Guwahati, some Khasi boys way laid them and he was hacked to death in front of her. She was spared. She came to Guwahati. By that time her brother also died. Her old mother gave her shelter and she started working as domestic help. Within a year her mother also breathed her last. Shefali shifted to the house of a Marwari businessman and worked there as a full time maid till she was unable to do much because of old age and sickness. The owner turned her out. She started living under the Railway Bridge and took to begging when a good Samaritan took pity on her and brought her to his home. She stayed there for about a year. This gentleman ultimately came and handed her over to Seneh .Shefali does not know anything about her son .
Recovered at Kolkota in 2008 by a NGO “Paripurnata”, dealing with uncared Mental patients. She being from NE State the Ngo brought her to ASHADEEP (NavChetna Transit Centre), Guwahati ,NGO dealing with care of uncared patients. She was sent to her home at kalagaon with the help of Ashadeeps’s Social Worker.She spent sometime with her mother in her home. But, she being an old case of psysophenia, the symptoms reoccured . Neighbours brought her to Ashadeep Navchetna Centre at Panjabari, Guwahati 5/10/2009. On improvement she was back home on 19/03/2010. Her mother expired on 11/02/11 (Father Expired earlier).There was none to look after her .So the neighbour brought her back to Ashadeep Mental rehabilitation centre, ghy on 11/2/11. since then she was staying Ashadeep mental rehabilitation centre at Guwahati/Bamunigaon (Boko)in Kamrup District, Assam.
She was brought to Seneh on 8/5/14. Regular medicines for psysophenic illness are given to her regularly. Presently she is free from symtoms and participating in day to day activities of Seneh with interest.
Little is known about Sukhi’s past. She was once a serious case of mental disorder, wandering the streets completely unmindful of her surroundings. Years of long hospitalization in a psychiatric facility, along with lifelong medication, gradually brought stability to her condition.
Today, Sukhi remembers nothing about her past—but she lives peacefully in her present. Her innocent, childlike face resembles that of a baby. She often mutters softly to herself, though her words remain incomprehensible. Because of the heavy medication she needs, she spends much of her time sleeping.
At Seneh, Sukhi continues to receive regular psychiatric care and lives in a safe, nurturing environment where she is calm, cared for, and cherished.
Sarala was picked up from her shack located in a suburb of Guwahati by our team when we were informed about the plight of this visually impaired woman by a neighbor two years back. According to her , she lost her eye sight at the tender age of four when she sustained eye injuries and some village quack treated her for it. This story is not subscribed by the ophthalmologists we consulted. According to them, her ophthalmic nerves are beyond repairs which indicates she was born blind. Strangely, Sarala can differentiate colours. When asked about the colour of the dress she is wearing, she correctly gives the answer.
Fifty year old Sarala has two brothers, one lodged in jail for some criminal activity and the other a driver. She had her two very old and almost crippled parents who lived on morsels of food given by her driver brother. Normally the food sufficed for one , so two of them would starve by turn. Inspite of numerous visits, appeals and greasing palms of some officials, Sarala did not get any Government job or help. Her brother would force her to beg and her stubborn refusal led to torture.
Sarala was married to a man who turned out to be a drunkard. She once conceived, but her husband in a drunken stupor kicked her underbelly so hard, the fetus died in her womb. She came back to her parents.
When we brought her to “Seneh”, Sarala was so malnourished she could not walk without support. She was dangerously anemic and had high blood pressure. Her legs were swollen. Our doctors worked on her and thanks to their efforts and the regular hygienic diet, Sarala is today a healthy and happy member of the family. Every morning and evening, Sarala practices music. The drug dealers Association of Guwahati presented her with a harmonium. Whenever some visitors come calling to Seneh, Sarala would always render a beautiful song to entertain them. She has also tuned the title song of Seneh. Sarala also earns a small sum by giving music lessons to a small girl who lives nearby.
Both of Sarala’s parents died happy after they found her blind daughter in the safe hands of Seneh.
This 65 yr old was picked up from a thatched hamlet on top of a wooded hilltop. She was living alone , dependent on some nearby villagers who would frequently give her food. Because of a road accident, she had multiple fractures on her limbs which although joined was very painful to her. She would walk with the support of a wooden stick, limping in pain.
Born to a daily wage earners family, she had 5 brothers. Four of them died very early in life. Father also died when she was 8 years old. The mother brought her up by doing house hold chores in the neighborhood but she also expired when Priyabala was 18. Within a couple of days even her only surviving brother was drowned in a river leaving Priyabala all alone. A relative brought her to Guwahati and gave her to a renowned singer’s family to work as a housemaid. Within 2 years she ran away for reasons she would never divulge. She started working as a construction worker. There she met a mason and married him. Her husband turned out to be a confirmed alcoholic. They lived together for 12 years but did not have any children. One evening she came to know her husband’s dead body was lying by the side of a busy road. She ran to the site, but as the fate may have it, a speeding car hit her and left her with multiple fractures in all the four limbs. She does not know who cremated her husband. She was admitted to a hospital. Some passerby helped her to file a suit and she got a compensation of Rs 1.5 lakh. Out of this amount, the pleader took his lions share of 50,000, the witnesses took 50,000, and the remaining 50,000/ was paid towards her hospital bills. She came out of the hospital crippled and broke, sold off her small plot of unregistered occupied Government land for a paltry eight thousand rupees with a proviso that she will be allowed to stay in the thatched hut built on a corner of the plot as long as she desires. She lived with that money for about a year till she had nothing left other than despair and suffering.
She was the first to make Seneh her home. Today, thanks to the efforts of Seneh, Priyabala not only walks without a stick but also cooks for the entire residents by turn. Seneh organized her cataract operations of both eyes, is treating her high blood pressure with regular medication , persuaded her to give up smoking bidi and chewing tobacco. Her health improved tremendously. You visit Seneh, and be sure, within a couple of minutes, Priyabala will appear beaming with a hot cup of tea.
A young journalist of a local News Paper informed us about an old woman lying on the crowded pavement outside Guwahati High Court sometimes in the month of March 2012. On our request, this compassionate young man picked her up in a three wheeler and delivered her to us. She feebly and somewhat incoherently told us, she did not have any food for four days in a row. We gave her food and a comfortable bed and within an hour she could talk coherently. The on call doctors found her extremely weak because of starvation , suffering from high blood pressure and anemic. On his advice we started giving her protein supplements and iron tablets and within a fortnight she was up and about. But then, we realized she was mentally unstable. We organized her treatment as an inpatient in the free mental hospital of the NGO , Ashadeep. Milu stayed there for three months. When her mental condition improved, she was brought her to Seneh.
She will have to be on psychiatric drug for rest of her life. The drugs have made Milu extremely weak and fragile. Even today Milu can hardly walk. She has no control over her bowel and urine movements. Honestly she is the biggest challenge for the extremely dutiful and compassionate Nilima, our wonderfully diligent in house nurse. Mentally otherwise she shows normal behavior. Milus antecedents are not clearly known. She says her brother is a railway employee at Silchar. Inspite of our best efforts including that of the Silchar police, we could not locate him. She also says she has three sons and two of them are drivers with Meghalaya State Transport Corporation. But when we enquired from the Corporation, theydrew a blank. She says she landed up at Guwahati in a Bus from Shillong. This part appears to be true since she could correctly describe the route of the bus ride and even the colour of the bus she rode.
Manju was brought to ‘Seneh’ , our home for Destitute Old Women, from a state run home after a young housewife narrated to us about the treatment meted out to her in the home. The warden would beat her and keep her in solitary confinement for days without food, because, she steals knick knacks from all and sundry. She would also be missing from the home for hours together without informing. The process of getting her out from the home was tedious since it required signing an affidavit in court that we will take care of her for the rest of her life and we indemnify the state from any legal implications. It also involved lot of bureaucratic hurdles.
On arrival, we were horrified to see the torture marks on her body. Manju is with us for more than a year now. Her problem is that she is a kleptomaniac. We consulted the psychiatrist who told us there is no cure for it other than accepting it and not making an issue with her about it. We have learnt to ignore it. Other than this, Manju is a very amiable and talented woman with some singularly out standing qualities. She is an accomplished knitter and good cook.
Nothing much is known about Manju’s past except that she was born in a home for destitute women and she spent her entire life in orphanages and homes for destitute women across the state. One lady, a social worker whose husband was an employee of the Orphanage where Manju was born, gives a horrifying story about the circumstances under which her mother delivered her in the orphanage. According to her, it involves a scandal of a renowned family of Assam. Since we could not verify her claim, we donot wish to dwell on it. Suffice it to say, this unfortunate 60 years old has no body in the World whom she can claim as her own kin . Her life started in an orphanage and she remained an orphan through out her life and lived her life all alone in different state run homes for such persons.
Manju had few ailing teeth left when she came into the family of ‘Seneh’. We got them extracted and given her dentures. We also organized her cataract operation of both eyes.Manju is on medication for High Blood Pressure. In addition, some psychiatric drugs are given that some how contains her urge to steal. She is frail but very energetic. She is a staunch vegetarian and insists on cooking her own food separately whenever a non vegetarian meal is cooked.
Unlike others, Gita has a large family but no where to go. The story of her life as narrated below are from what she had told us. Her eldest daughter and her husband are both professors in a college. They are apparently wealthy and known. Her third daughter’s husband is a school teacher. Her married son however has no known source of income.
She was married to a middle level officer of Government of Assam. With a big house and cultivable land they were quite well off and lived a life of contentment. When her husband died prematurely, both her elder daughters were married. The second although was a widow with two small children. The youngest daughter was of marriageable age and the son was schoolgoing. According to Gita, he was a vagabond who would not care for her or his own future.
The husband did not leave behind any hard cash or deposit hence Gita had to sell a portion of her property to sustain. She also met the expenditure of the marriage of her youngest daughter. One day, her twenty year old son brought home a girl quite elder to him and declared that they got married secretly. Gita’s ordeal started there after. Her son and daughter in law started ill treating her. Ultimately she sold off the house, invested the money in a SUV to be used as a taxi and shifted to her eldest daughter’s home. Her business venture bombed leaving her with a debt.
Her son in law started ill treating her. Her own daughter was helpless. Gitas patience gave away to utter despair when one day she heard her son in law introducing her to a gentleman as their house maid. She left his home quietly , came to Guwahati and after spending a few nights on the pavements, decided to commit suicide by jumping into the mighty Brahmaputra. She was stopped in the eleventh hour by an alert constable and the police handed her over to us.
Gita is an extremely talented lady. She is an expert weaver, very good in embroidery and cooking traditional Assamese food and snacks. Gita had a few medical problems. We got her operated for removal of her bleeding tumorous uterus. She is extremely anemic for which we had to organize blood transfusion and also suffers from high blood pressure.
We tried to unite her family and restore her to her daughter and son in laws. None of them were ready. Hence Gita is with us for last one year, she says in the twilight years of her life now, she has learnt to smile again.
This 75 year old (approx) was born in a remote village in Nepal. She had two brothers and one sister. Both brothers died, one with TB and the other for excessive drinking. She does not know where her married younger sister is. She was married to a carpenter in Nepal. The family migrated to a village named Bholatal in Assam Bhutan Border. They joined the house hold of a rich farmer, she as the house maid and he to work in the fields. Her memory is cloudy. She remembers a daughter was born to her at the landlord’s house but when we ask her the daughter’s whereabouts she gives a blank look. They left the landlord and settled in a small village nearby. She says that her daughter died in this village, but the villagers say that she is alive and married with kids. Her tale of woes started when she lost her husband at the tender age of 21. With her blurred memory she once told that she came back to her parents living in a village called Belkhuti located in Baksha district of Assam. Her mother died when she was 26 and the father remarried. The stepmother started ill treating her and she left her fathers home to walk alone in life. Probably that is the time she lost her mental balance and started loitering on the streets. Inspite of our best efforts we could not ascertain about her life in the intervening 40 years period. We heard about her when a lady of the locality narrated to us about an old woman who the villagers believed to be a haunted witch who becomes violent on full moon days. She lived in the nearby jungles and would come out sporadically begging for food. We found her living on a hay stack in a winter month. The villagers advised us not to approach her since she may turn violent but she was as tame as a rabbit. Her long hairs were knotted; she was wearing a loin cloth. One of her hollowed eyes was injured. Seeing us she tried to run away but we caught hold of her, forcibly brought her to a well, gave her two consecutive baths with soap and water and wrapped her with a clean old sari given by a villager. Initially, she was a big challenge to us since she would not know when to stop eating. And if we tried to control, she turned violent throwing things and hitting her head with whatever she could lay her hands on. Today, Devi is calm and composed, we consider her as the biggest tribute to our efforts. Both her eyes were operated and she is on psychiatric treatment that will continue for the rest of her life. She is hunched but otherwise most radiant of all the residents of Seneh and always ready for a jig whenever we request her to dance!
Devi the sole surviving member of four siblings hail from a remote village in Nepal. She was married to a carpenter in Nepal. The family migrated to a village on the Assam-Bhutan Border and worked for a farmer, she as the house maid and he to work in the fields. Her memory is cloudy. She remembers a daughter was born to her but when we ask her the daughter whereabouts she gives a blank look. They left the landlord and settled in a small village nearby. She says that her daughter died in this village, but the villagers say that she is alive and married with kids. Her tale of woes started when she lost her husband at the tender age 21. With her blurred memory she said she came back to her parents. Her mother died and the father remarried. The stepmother started ill-treating her and she left home to walk alone in life. Probably that is the time she lost her mental balance and started loitering on the streets. In spite of our best efforts we could not ascertain about her life in the intervening 40 years period We heard about her when a lady of the locality narrated to us about an old woman who the villagers believed to be a haunted witch who becomes violent on full moon days. She lived in the nearby jungles and would come out sporadically begging for food. We found her living on a haystack in a winter month. Her long hair was knotted; she was wearing a loin cloth. One of her hollowed eyes was injured. Seeing us she tried to run away but we caught hold of her, forcibly brought her to a well, gave her two consecutive baths with soap and water and wrapped her with a clean old sari given by a villager. Initially, she was a big challenge to us since she would not know when to stop eating. And if we try to control, she turned violent throwing things and hitting her head. Once she hit her head with a brick. The wound required 3 stitches. Today Devi is calm and composed, we consider her as the biggest tribute to our efforts. Both her eyes were operated and she is on psychiatric treatment that will continue for the rest of her life. She is hunched but otherwise most radiant of all the residents of Seneh. She dances and plays the Frisbee with other inmates and helps in cleaning the house. She considers the physical work in the kitchen garden her exclusive right.
Nothing is known about Bina.s past except that she was handed over to us by “Ashadeep” the NGO who treats mentally unstable women . Bina was picked up from the street by Ashadeep and treated for Schizophrenia . She was in their hospital for a year. When Ashadeep’s treatment showed results, Bina was handed over to us since no one claimed her nor did she remember anything about of her past. For last one a half years, Bina is living at” Seneh”. As per advice of the Doctors of Ashadeep , Bina is on psychiatric drug which she has to take for her entire life . The in house nurse Nilima (No words can describe her dedication), ensures she gets her daily dose of medication without fail.
We donot know what actually was her original name or religion . Bina is the name given by us. From her talks, she appears to be of Bangladeshi origin.
Bina is extremely frail and quiet. Unless asked, she would not talk and normally replies in monosyllables. But she is ever willing to help others in performing house hold jobs, specially sweeping and swabbing. Even if she is sick, she would not complain or talk about it. The keen and loving eyes of Nilima is the only source of knowing her discomfiture. From her looks, we assume, Bina is in her early fifties.
Arti was picked up from a village 300 miles away from Guwahati when we heard about the story of this mentally unstable mother of three. Her husband committed suicide , the eldest male child working as a small tea stall help and his two younger siblings living with their very poor and old maternal grand mother. Arti would loiter on the road and spend the night under trees. Sometimes people will take pity and give her food. When normal she also did house hold works in houses to earn her food. Her bout of attack comes once or twice in a month when she turns violent and abusive. The villagers tie her in a tree and live her alone.
Initially after arrival at Seneh, for 15 days Arti behaved normally. Then she got her bout of lunatic attack. Her eyes got blood shot, she became abusive and violent. No amount of sedation worked on her. We got Arti admitted in a mental hospital of a local NGO. She was treated in the hospital for 7 months and when her condition stabilized she was put on rehab. When we brought back Arti to Seneh she was so frail she was unable to stand. Her whole body would shake like fig.
We started giving special food and medical care. She is on psychiatric drug which she has to take for her entire life. Her physical and mental condition improved tremendously. Today Arti looks absolutely normal. Her hands still shakes but she is helping others in cleaning, swabbing or cutting vegetables. We have made arrangements for her children to visit her every month one by one. Initially the children were scared to touch her. Today they jump into her frail arms whenever they meet her. Arti hugs them with a joy a mother can only understand. In the long run we intend to send her back and support her family. God willing we would succeed.
She is Lalita , around forty plus. She was married off to man, a safaikarmachari at the very tender age of thirteen. She hailed from a remote village of Bihar. She seemsome what retarded. That used to enrage her husband who would beat her mercilessly at the slightest pretext. He was an alcoholic too. Lalita delivered three healthy girl child which also was a reason for her ordeals. Three years back her husband died living her helpless and shelter less. Luckily for her, her elder brother in law is a kind man. He undertook to look after the children but being very poor could not afford to give shelter and food to all the four. While he was willing to give shelter and look after the children , Lalita had nowhere to go. She does not remember the name of the village of her parents, who are actually dead. She came to us for help and we decided to take her into our arms although strictly speaking, being less than fifty, she does not qualify to be our inmate. Presently she is under medical supervision for a host of ailments. She is improving day by day. Once she is cured, we plan to keep her as a special case and also help her brother in law in rehabilitating the three girls. We have applied to the local Government sponsored Child Welfare Committee for help. We also provide food staff regularly for the children.
Alas ! In all likelihood, her days are numbered. A very senior doctor has, recently opined, after examining her and going through her blood, ecg, sonography and scan reports that he feels it is a fallacy she still is alive. She has a third stage psoriasis of lever, a failing heart and kidney, acute thyroiditis and probable TB. But she is still able to move about and gradually regaining her appetite. Few days back her BP fell to 55/38, pulse rate feeble and was on delirium. Our stuff and above all the compassion, love and care of Jutika, our unbelievingly dedicated associate, made her stand again. We know she cannot be saved. But she will certainly die satisfied, she had people who certainly cared and loved her.
Basanti came to Seneh a year and a half back. A diminutive ,quiet sixty plus, who speaks only when spoken to , is satisfied with whatever is offered and never even once complained of any discomfort or suffering. A wry smile never left her small lips. She was brought to Seneh by a compassionate lady who informed us, she begged near a temple , slept on the veranda of nearby shops , ate very little. But of late, she was so sick she could hardly walk even to sit for begging and hence slept often empty stomach.
We were told b y Basanti, she had a loving husband and two sons. All three died of some illness living her alone with no roof or means of sustenance. She lived in a rented sack and was forced to beg. But with failing health she could not earn enough to eat and pay for the rent. Thus ultimately she became roofless.
A routine examination revealed she was highly anaemic. The doctors suggested immediate blood transfusion. Three volunteers came forward to donate blood and three bottles units was transfused. Initially she regained her strength and appetite. But within a month her stomach and feet got swollen. With that her blood level again came down very low. The attending doctor suggested, we take her to a lever specialist. We took her to the best in town, an expensive proposition. And he told us after a number of investigations and tests, she has a third degree lever psoriasis . The blood was oozing out from one of her exposed throat vein explaining the blood loss. On his advise a bending operation was conducted in a private hospital. Initially for a couple of months , she regained her health. But then it gradually deteriorated till our nursing has revived her again. It was an amazing turn around but according to doctors, it is temporary.
Let us all pray a miracle happens and she survives.
Age: 50 years
Rupali was born blind in a poor family in rural Assam. Without any medical intervention which probably could have restored partial eyesight, she remained blind for life. Her travails with life started at the tender age of eight when her mother died. Her father took another wife.Within days, her stepmother started thinking she was a burden and maltreated her. She will beat her up in slightest pretext, made her work morning till night, and quite often, would not even give her two square meals. With her disability, she silently withstood the trauma till she met an another blind man who came to their house for begging. He was moved by her plight. They started courting. On the sixth month of courtship, they tied the nuptial cord.
Their relation soured in about a years time both being fiercely independent Though she was not in good terms with her husband, she gave birth to a daughter. They lived together for fifteen years. One day,they fought fiercely and in a huff she walked out leaving behind her daughter ,would spend her nights on the veranda of shops and lived on begging. Seeing her plight a good Muslim family gave her shelter. She would hand over whatever she earns from begging to the family, and in turn, they will provide her food ,shelter and care. When she came to knowabout our destitute home , she came and is living happily in “Seneh”.
The hearing and speech impaired, aproximately 65, was forcibly dropped from a car in the vicinity of the Police Station in Goalpara Town , 150 km away from Guwahati. Because of her disability coupled with the fact that she does not know how to read or write, the police could not ascertain her origin or antecedents. The officer in-charge of the police station brought her for shelter to our home for Destitute Old Women “SENEH” . Since no one knew her name we named her Anamika , meaning nameless in Assamese. Now she looks very happy and willingly helps others in performing the house hold scores .
Age: 60 years
Akan hailed from a poor family living in Nagaon.At very tender age she was married to a man who actually was forced by his parents to marry Akan, although his heart was elsewhere. From day one, they had a very tumultuous relationship. The husband will abuse her physically and mentally and treat her as if she was a servant. He also would torture her and beat her mercilessly at the slightest pretext. Unable to bear the trauma, one they she walked out of her husbands home and took refuse in her elder sisters home. She lived with them for about twelve years. Her brother in law grudgingly allowed her to stay although he displayed his displeasure often. However she reconciled with her fate till her brother in law and sister both died in successive years. Her sister had an unmarried son who was not very accommodative. Nevertheless she hung on till she made with a road accident that required prolonged hospitalization.
She remained in the hospital for more than six months. Her nephew did visit her very occasionally, as she remembers not more than three times in her hospitalization period. After she was up and about she begged her nephew to give her shelter. He hired an one room hut and she lived there sustaining on alms given by neighbours and at times a cooked meal from her nephew. Quite often she would go hungry for days since she was physically unable to earn her living. To be fair to her nephew , he continuously paid for the accommodation. Seneh’svolunteers spotted her and brought her home.
Kunjabala (52 years), entered into the Seneh family around eight months back. We were informed about her plight by one of her distant relative. A fact finding team went to her village approximately 150 hours away from Guwahati. They discovered her living with her related brother in law. She appeared extremely scared of her brother in law and withdrew into a shell the moment he entered the courtyard where our team met her. Some neighbours and her sister kept requesting us to take her away since she had no one to bank on. We brought her to “Seneh” our home for destitute old women. After observing her, we noticed she was retarded. We found her extremely timid and scared. Whenever a man approaches her , she tries to run away as if he is going to harm her. Her strides were unsure and she would talk only to answer a question. We consulted the psychiatrist, who opined, probably she suffered mental trauma because of some man who tried to take advantage of her helplessness. She remained a spinster all her life. She is on psychiatric medication. She now appears much more confident . Her general health also improved significantly.
The fifty two year old Mohini , a graduate, was married to an electrical linesman working for the state electricity board, as per the wishes of her parents immediately after she appeared for her graduation. Within days of her marriage, she discovered, her husband had a very loose character. He was an alcoholic and a habitual gambler. On top of that, she found out that he had illicit relationship with his own sister in law. That resulted in frequent scuffles with his brother who because of demand of his work, had to stay away from their home. Whenever she confronted him with proof including red handed ones, he would bit her up mercilessly. In fact he was such a bad influence in the family that ultimately all his relatives out casted him. He blamed her for this and became more vengeful. Unable to bear the mental and physical trauma, she decided to desert him and went back to her parents.
The husband quickly got an another women to stay with him. She stayed with her parents for a couples of years. But both her parents expired in quick succession. Her elder sister brought her to her home. She was a widow with hardly any source of income. They lived together and Mohini tried in vein to get a job. She felt, she was a huge burden on her elder sister more so because she was highly diabetic. She could not afford the medicine to control it. She approached us for shelter which we are providing now. We have consulted an endocrinologist who has put her on regular medication. The blood sugar level has improved now. She also developed premature cataract. One of her eyes have since been operated. We have also helped her to file a divorce petition which is under trial now.
Purnima an approx 50 plus years old was lying on the pavement of a busy intersection partially conscious in great pain. Both her legs were swollen at least four times the normal with liquid oozing out. In one of the worst affected fingers some parasites could be seen crawling. Some passerby threw petrol on this wound probably to kill the parasites. In the process burned the area. A foul smell was emanating from these wounds. Hundreds passed by, but not a single man helped. Our volunteers spotted her, lifted her and brought her in.
She was admitted to the ICU of a private hospital and was put on live support. After 10 days she recovered partially. Now she is able to walk around, the swelling reduced and the wounds partially healed. She is under care of two nurses at our premises. Unfortunately the doctors found two of her heart valves leaking. We will take a call about her heart after she recovers completely from her other afflictions.
Bibianna, around sixty, hails from a tribal district of Jharkhand bordering Bihar. Her father was a marginal farmer who could hardly make both ends meet with his six children, three daughters and equal number of sons. All of them other than Bibianna died early She was married to a gentleman who lived in a tribal village in Orissa. He sired a son but abandoned her after she became hunched after some ailment on her back. A practicing devout Christian, she came back to her mother’s home and lived there for good 14 years. The son grew up, left her and started trading on fish. Her health specially her back started giving her goose bumps with no one to care for her. She shifted to her sister’s home and stayed there for about a year. She does not remember what happened afterwards. She landed up by train in Guwahati. She had no food for 5 days till a kind old man spotted her sleeping on the platform, bought two loaves of bread and gave her. After her hunger pangs were partially satisfied she took stock of her situation, found out, where she landed up and decided to beg in the station. She desperately wanted some money and hence started to collect empty plastic water bottles from the platform and the bogies. She stored the bottles in a corner under the Railway over bridge.
But after she collected reasonably large numbers of the bottles and decided to sell them and scouted a buyer, she found that all her treasures were stolen away by some drug addicted urchins, all platform dwellers. The haven fell on her. She remembers crying loud and some other platform dwellers trying to console her. Then for the second time she blacked out. Once again she does not remember how she landed up in a remote lonely newly laid hill road that connects south Guwahati with central part of the city. Someyoung all members of a NGO, spotted her and informed the police who brought her to “Seneh” , our home for destitute old women. We found the hunched woman otherwise very active with a somewhat disturbed mind. She gets into a tranche whenever she hears devotional songs specially Christian hymns. Although the language is the barrier , she jells well with others who mostly speak Assamese. She is a very quick learner and is busy in her spare time to hand knit foot mats from torn Saries. We consulted the psychiatrist who did not find anything wrong in her.
We have informed the Police about her past and requested them to locate her son in Bihar as per the address given by her. We are yet to hear from them.
A spinster this sixty plus woman was born in a tribal family in a village about ninety kilometre away from Guwahati, Assam. Her family was relatively well off in a sense that they had enough land to cultivate and the single crop of paddy was enough to feed the family of nine and also sell the surplus to cater for the other needs. Purnima went to the only Girls school situated 4 km away which she along with few others from the village walked every day to and fro .She appeared in the matriculation examination and plucked. That ended her studies. A year later her father died. She lost her mother early. One of her elder brothers took charge of the family. He abhorred physical work. Her other brothers left the village for greener pastures in Guwahati. After marriage they started living in the town and left the family property to the brother to fend. The lazy gentleman started squandering the property first by giving it on lease and later by selling it and dividing the proceeds between the brothers. Ultimately the family had hardly any resource to sustain.
Purnima decided to travel to Guwahati, first lived with one of her brothers, joined the Home Guard as a constable on contract basis and shifted to the barracks. The meagre income was enough to sustain and meet her day today expenditures. After serving in home guard for 35 years she was forcefully retired with no retirement benefits because of her poor health condition. With her money saved she hired a small house and lived there till she had nothing left in her hands to sustain. She came to Seneh , our home for destitute old women for shelter. After ascertaining her story to be true we accommodated her. Initially she had a problem in adjusting but gradually she found her foot. She has a heart condition that requires regular medication. She also complains of body ache which is attributed to arthritis.
Fate had played havoc on this talented and well mannered seventy year old. She hailed from a village of Nogaon district of Assam. Her parents were small time peasants with practically no land holding. The land where the house her father built was donated by a prosperous villager whose land her father tilled. The family consisted of seven siblings and the parents. Two boys and five daughters. Tulumai studied to middle school level and early in life eloped with a young man of a nearby village. He later turned out to be a scoundrel. He was arrested for murder and served long years in jail. By that time they had two daughters. With no one to support her she returned back to her mother’s home with the two daughters. But soon the younger daughter died of illness. The elder one grew up and was married off to a man who is very poor.
Both her parents and three siblings died subsequently within next fifteen years leaving her all alone since her only living brother deserted them and the two surviving sisters got married. She lived all alone in the old dilapidated house which used to leak profoundly. On top of that the original owner of the land pressed on her to vacate the land since he decided to use the land for commercial purpose. Her sisters were reluctant to accommodate her. Her daughter herself was unable to make both ends meet. Her plight was focussed by a local TV channel, and a local NGO brought her in. However within days she felt unease in the NGOs home and left it. Her sister brought her to Seneh. Tulumai is very happy here. She is an expert knitter and also very efficient in needle work. She feels quite at ease at Seneh and she says in last thirty years she had never been so happy.
A resident of our North Lakhimpur home, Jugamaya, approx. 50 years old, does not remember any thing about her past. The local civil authorities rescued her from a remote lonely area when she was loitering aimlessly and handed her over to us. We found her mentally unstable. From appearance and mannerism she appears to be from a good family. She has been put on psychiatric treatment and her mental condition now can be termed as stable. Lately the doctors found her uterus infected. Her operation for the removal of the uterus is scheduled for the month of February 2019 since the doctors are not taking any chances because of her psychiatric problems.
Rajbonti, approx. 70 years of age was brought to Seneh by a women’s group of Guwahati. According to them, she worked for 10 years in their club as a cleaner. She initially lived in a makeshift shack nearby, but the group got her to their club, provided accommodation and the cleaner and caretaker job . She says, she was born at Jaunpur district of Bihar. She does not remember the name of the village. She was married to a gentleman from the same area and together they migrated to Guwahati where he worked as a labourer. They had a daughter who died and there after she was unable to bear any children. The husband left her, got married to an another woman and deserted her at Guwahati with nothing. Initially she lived under the extended roof of a temple and later to the railway platform and ultimately to a small make shift shack by the side of a multi storied complexes. All along she lived by begging. The President of the club spotted her and brought her to the club where she lived there after till she became forgetful and sick. She is in Seneh now for more than a year. We found her to be a case of dementia. She has no control over her bladder and bowel movement. Otherwise she is a darling of all.
The around fifty Somari comes from an Adivasi family. Her parents died when she was around seven. She had two brothers. The eldest got married early, learnt driving and picked up a job at Guwahati around two hundred kilometre away from their home. He remained at Guwahati took to drinking. But his wife started working as a help in a kindergarten school. Samari is mentally slightly differently abled. Her other brother used to till the small holding and get a crop that was not sufficient to live, So both Samari and her brother used to work as a manual stone crusher. She started this work at the age of ten. She used to earn a rupee a day. Brother used to earn four. Because she was mentally retarded, no one came to marry her. She gradually became week and by around 45, she could no longer work. Her sister younger sister in law always considered her a burden and mistreated her. The elder one was considerate. Moved by her plight she brought her to Guwahati to live with her and look after her toddlers. She would quite often forget about them which resulted in a lot of stress to her sister in law. This is the lady, after she heard about us, brought her to Seneh. Regular food, exercise and her very reluctant efforts to help others in house hold works as is the norm at Seneh is showing tremendous results. She positively looks radiant and healthy today.
Kusum, 75, was born in a poor family in a village 150 km away from Guwahati. Her parents lived on pittance. They had a small land holding that her father used to till. Unfortunately her father died when she seven. Her mother and old grandfather brought her up. The mother used to work part time as household help to sustain. She had one brother. She never went to school. She was married off when she was only fourteen to a small time vegetable trader. They had one girl child. In the mean time both her grand father and mother passed away. So did her brother within a span of five years. She had no one in the World of her own blood. Her husband was very loving, had no vices and they had a happy conjugal life. But fate had an another story to tell. He died suddenly of a heart attack. The World fell on her. She had a twelve year old girl to look after. Her brother in law was extremely helpful. She remained in their care. The brother in law also was a vegetable vendor and had a meagre earning
