Encased she was in a granite wall...
Mute as eerie stillness...mighty and headfast in the drastic action she had taken...by intent putting her nearest one's to extreme peril...shoving them to the threshold of incarceration... misguided by those she had developed a fanatical attraction towards...
Shelter and protection was mandated from us...but was something amiss? Were people who appeared innocent going to end up at the gallows? Could we make her pull back from the brink of the plunge that would be disastrous...and tragic?
Deep inside her cranium...and her heart...lay the truth...what was it?
Relentless efforts...chipping away made not a scratch on the surface...exasperated we were...hum pagal ho jayenge said our social worker...nothing seemed to work...
We rebuffed the option to give up...lives were at stake...we changed tack...and took a huge gamble...a leap that could spell profound disaster...or change the landscape completely...and it did!
From the yearlong granite encased unflinching person emerged the adolescent who she really was...a lovable, smiling child...
Tears rolled down our cheeks as her mother took in her embrace the child they had lost...the daughter for whom they were willing to be incarcerated...
Colossal injustice to an innocent family had been averted...but questions remained...without answers the reunion would be fractured....and insecure...
What was the root cause for the aberration of a magnitude that spelled tragic disaster...and huge emotional agony for her nearest one's...those who had nurtured her...and loved her?
Our quest for the truth continued...
Why?
The question kept coming back...the answers eluded us...we spurred her to reveal the shrouded truth...
And finally...the conspiracy...and inducement surfaced...
Our pursuit was finally over...the very cause that had blemished her thoughts...and actions had been dislodged...in body and mind she was now at safe anchorage...
She had emerged anew...leaving behind the debris...burying the consternation that had devoured her family...
She left with a weighty awakening...coming as she did from a well to do family, she had broken bread...and mingled with those who were born as the underbelly of society...she left with a realisation that we are all equal...she left with compassion...and a yearning to do something for those who had taken her in as their very own...her family of Ghar...
In Ghar she had found herself...and her home...
Our girl was finally back where she belonged...in the warm hearth...and love of her family...
It was a short yet fateful journey...seven weeks...yet the fragrance lingers on...her umbilical cord with Ghar shall forever remain...much as our memories of her do...
Yes...we at Ghar did walk the extra mile...and that's what made all the difference...
Au revoir girl!