Nature had moulded her differently

Nature had moulded her differently...a divergence between her body and the feelings that her mind encased...feelings that had remained bottled up in her since childhood...feelings that were so natural to her...but which society would frown upon...

Her feelings finally burst forth...and two months back she began a journey that saw her run away from the security...and love of her home in a distant village of North India to give expression to her feelings...she traversed as a young runaway from one city to another...finally onto Pune...and Ghar.

We knew her predicament...yet happily embraced her. In a manner Ghar was the very home she had always aspired for...a home where she was accepted the way she was...she found a mother in one of our staff...a mother who she had last known when she was just two years old...

Umpteen trips to various hospitals followed...experts came forth to guide her...and us.

She had left her world behind and had started anew...she did everything to keep her past a secret. Through tit bits of contradictory information we could finally trace her roots...

The very girl who had gone missing to give expression to her bottled up feelings left yesterday with the very family she always proclaimed she had left behind for good...she left as a happy child...holding the hand and supporting a limping man as he walked the distance on the railway station platform...the very man she had disowned...her father...a rustic yet simple, humble farmer from a remote village who had brought up his child singlehandedly after his wife left him with a two years old...

She left as a happy child...with optimism...and faith...she left with the belief that her father had finally understood her feelings...and had let her live her life the way she always yearned to...he had stood with folded hands in front of her to plead with her to come home...his only child...and waris ...as we watched with lumps in our throats...

She left with a yearning to be back...in Ghar she had found her home. She wants to become a teacher and teach the young girls of Ghar.

Her's is a saga that that will remain etched on the minds of all at Ghar...we know she will never forget Ghar...nor will we forget her and her girlish innocence...she did make us at Ghar realise that empathy indeed covers a very wide spectrum of human understanding...and feelings...and yes, we did walk the extra mile to hold her hand...it felt good!

Ghar has only become richer with the experience of her stay with us...all of 23 days.

Her teacher will have one less student today...

Au revoir girl!