Two weeks ago, railway police officers stationed at the Chennai Central station noticed a woman sitting on one of the platforms with three young children. They thought she was waiting for someone, and left. The next day, during their rounds, they saw her again. She looked scared and was sitting in a corner of the waiting hall, clasping her children’s hands tightly. On enquiring, they realised that she was lost.
“Her name was Pinky Mandal. Since none of us spoke her language, we couldn’t understand what she was saying,” said S. Sekar, government railway police inspector, Chennai Central. The officers later approached a local NGO, which provided the family shelter.
“Thanks to one of our officials, we found out that she spoke Bengali and was from Kolkata. She was apparently on her way to Kerala to meet her husband. She didn’t even have any money,” said Isabel Richardson, director of Madras Christian Council for Social Work (MCCSW), where Pinky and her three children aged, 7, 4 and 6 months of age were housed. Her four-year-old son was disabled. Pinky didn’t know her husband’s address or phone number. After a few days, social workers found a small piece of paper in her hand which had a phone number. They found that it was the contact number of her mother, who in Kolkata was searching for her.
Impulsive move
“She has been unwell and depressed for a few months. One day, she suddenly told me that she was going to Kerala and before we knew, she had boarded a train. But she never reached her destination. We thank the police and the NGO for helping us find her,” said Bascauli Mandal, Pinky’s mother. A few days ago, Bascauli came down to Chennai with her son to take Pinky and her grandchildren back home. On Wednesday night, they left for Kolkata.
In a similar incident a week ago, the railway police reunited a 59-year-old mentally ill woman from Bihar with her family. She too was lost.
“In Pinky’s case, we had to take extra care to ensure her children’s safety. We are happy they are all safe now,” said Mr. Sekar.
