Activists seek to reunite Indian girl with family

KARACHI:

The Salman Khan-starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan may have been a work of fiction, but sometimes life shocks us by imitating fiction. At the Edhi Foundation shelter in Karachi’s Mithadar, far from the glamour of a Bollywood film production, real life heroes are working to find the hometown of an Indian girl who can neither speak nor hear.

“The Punjab Rangers brought her to us some 13 years ago,” says Faisal Edhi of the Edhi Foundation. “For years, we have been trying to locate her family or her hometown so that she can return.”

First brought to an Edhi Centre in Lahore, the girl was moved to the shelter in Karachi where Bilquis Edhi named her ‘Geeta’ and has become quite close to the girl.

Now 23 years old, Geeta is believed to have mistakenly crossed into Pakistani territory as a child. The only communication she has managed with the Edhi staff is recognising the Indian map on a mobile phone and breaking down into tears. Sobbing silently, she frantically points first at the Indian state of Jharkhand and then at Telangana, trying hard to tell something of her past that may be a clue for them.

The foundation’s workers have also tried to use Geeta’s ability to write and draw in an effort to be able to identify her hometown. With a sad smile, the slender girl shows her drawing of her country’s map. She then brings a notebook and points to pages full of handwritten Sanskrit scripture. Some words are in Roman Hindi and communicate the obvious: that she misses her mother and home very much. Using her fingers and facial expression, Geeta says she has seven brothers and four sisters.

“We have shown her writings to people but nothing has come out of it. She copies Hindi words from magazines,” explains Faisal.

A follower of Hinduism, the shelter home’s staff have created a separate praying room for her, adorning it with colourful posters of Hindu deities, and an earthen lamp on the table. As Geeta gets up and prays, Faisal points toward one of the figurines: “This is the Ganesh that I got for her from Nepal.”

With the success of the Bollywood film, activists have capitalised on the momentum to make more of an effort to reunite Geeta with her family. Activist Ansar Burney, who has raised this issue three years ago during a visit to India, is now running an active campaign for her on Facebook.

“Last year, officials from the Indian Consulate visited her, took her picture and records but they didn’t come back,” says Faisal. Journalists, including one from India, also interviewed her but no one was able to locate her family.

Without any luck in finding her family back home, Bilquis Edhi suggested Geeta begins a new life in Pakistan by getting married to a Hindu boy. In her sign language, Geeta refused and made it clear that she will only get married once she returns home.

In the meanwhile, Geeta is happy to spend her time doing household chores with a friendly smile always lighting up her face. “She cooks scrumptious vegetable dishes,” says Humaira, one of the caretakers for Geeta. “She does all the work and tries to stay happy but when she remembers her family, she cries a lot.”

Amongst her writings, the numbers ‘193’ make a frequent appearance. In a last-ditch effort to solve the mystery, Faisal draws a house on a piece of paper and hands her a pen. Geeta takes it, smiles, and jots down the numbers beside it. ‘193’, it seems, may be her house number.


Published in The Express Tribune, August 2^nd, 2015.