A woman and her son were brought together after a gap of nearly four years at the Poojappura old-age home here on Thursday, a reunion facilitated by the Kerala State Women’s Commission.
Susheela Devi from Karauli in Rajasthan boarded a train and left her hometown in 2011. In June 2011, the Poojappura police found her wandering the streets not far from the station. She was incoherent and said her name was Parvati.
The police took her to the Poojappura Mahila Mandiram, but since it was packed way beyond capacity, she had to be taken to the old-age home at Poojappura. Residents and employees at the home tried their collective best to speak in Hindi to communicate with her, but in vain. More than the language barrier itself, Susheela Devi needed treatment for her apparently frail mental health, women’s commission officials said.
She was then taken for treatment at the Mental Health Centre at Peroorkada here, and improved significantly over the following months. It was early this year that she revealed her actual name and other details.
On June 25 this year, women’s commission members, including K.A. Thulasi and Noorbina Rasheed, visited the institution. Based on the information that she was an anganwadi worker in Karauli, they contacted their counterparts in the Rajasthan Women’s Commission, who managed to trace her family through the ICDS network under the Ministry of Child and Women Development.
Her son, Mahesh, a contract labourer, reached the commission here earlier this week. After police verification, he was taken to meet his mother at Poojappura on Thursday. Fond scenes of reunion unravelled at the home, and Susheela bade farewell to the other residents and employees who had supported her these years.
