Bhanumathi has a mother, but she's nobody's child----August 8 2008
CHENNAI: Bhanumathi evokes a strange mix of horror, pain and, subsequently, shame — feelings that are not encountered at the sight of a child between three and four.
Emaciated, she sits on the sidewalk at Langs Garden Road in Pudupet with a blank gaze, neglected. Even those living close by in the huts on the muddy slope leading to the murky Cooum waters couldn’t care less. They know Bhanumathi’s mother Vairum — she is a fellow hut dweller — but close their eyes and let the child wither away. Vairum, who says she is a ragpicker and domestic help, abandons Bhanumathi on the pavement when she leaves for work.
People in the slum say Vairum is away from home for long stretches, at times even 20 days, and they don’t believe that she is either a ragpicker or domestic help. They let Bhanumathi be. She survives on whatever people passing by give her when he mother is away.
Vairum doesn’t care for her neighbours. Having delivered Bhanumathi when she was around 16, she is world-weary to the extreme. Even her parents, vagrants who live in the same slum, apparently exploit her. Instead of looking after Bhanumathi, they dump their two other children — a five-year-old and a four-year-old, both boys — in Vairum’s custody. Their responsibility is limited to coming by once in a while and doing nothing.
Vairum says she leaves Bhanumathi on the streets and not in the hut because Cooum waters almost touch her hut and would be unsafe. Her young brothers are “too young” to take care of Bhanumathi and she cannot afford to miss work even for a day. Her earnings do not exceed Rs 50 a day. “I cannot buy food for all,” she says. Vairum says Bhanumathi was a chubby baby for more than a year but her health deteriorated due to ‘some curse’. Vairum says she has no time to take Bhanumathi to hospital, though she is aware of free treatment in government hospitals. What scares her is the thought that if she takes Bhanumathi to hospital, she would have to stay with her - which she “cannot afford”. She doesn’t talk about Bhanumathi’s father. He left me, is all that she is ready to say. The article in Indian Express 8Aug.jpg
At last, a new home for baby Bhanumathi---- August 9 2008
CHENNAI: From the pavement of Langs Garden Road at Pudupet to a children’s home in Tiruverkadu, it was not a very long journey for little Bhanumathi, the emaciated child from a slum on the banks of Cooum.
The journey would not have happened, but for the efforts of few of this website's newspaper’s journalists, who did not rest after featuring the child on the front page of Friday’s edition.
Though the newspaper’s office received calls from many NGOs wanting to know more about the child, they seemed wary about giving her a new home.
Bhanumathi’s mother Vairum, a ragpicker, appeared busy as she hogged media limelight since morning. Near the hut, our Chief Photographer Shiba Prasad Sahu waited with R Kalaimani, who runs a school for the slum children, hoping that succour would come for the child from any welfare organisation.
But all that he saw was a beeline of mediapersons. Television journalists were seen visiting the hut and interviewing the neighbours of Bhanumathi and Vairum.
With the entire neighbourhood bustling with activity, Sahu started making calls to other reporters urging them to contact government and non-governmental organisations that might reach out to the child in distress.
The reporters worked their contacts. Soon they found that officials of the Chennai Corporation were of no use - they did not respond.
The response from the Child Welfare Committee, which functions under the Department of Social Defence, gave a ray of hope. However, committee chairperson P Manorama wanted the child and her mother to be produced at the office in Kellys by 2 pm. Who will do that?
Meanwhile, reporter Ranjitha Gunasekharan got in touch with Geetha, an administrative official at Udavum Karangal, an NGO.
She contacted Vidyaakar, founder of the NGO, and sought directions from him. A little later, Vidyaakar called back and asked for the child’s details. He was also given the contact number of Kalaimani.
At 12.30 pm, Vidyaakar made his stand clear. “I cannot say anything more till I get in touch with her mother. We can do whatever is required,” he said.
At 1 pm, an ambulance from Udavam Karangal reached Langs Gardens Road. Meanwhile, Vidyaakar got in touch with Kalaimani and went to Vairum’s dwelling.
Vidyaakar, his support staff and administrative officer Geetha had discussions with Vairum. She did not object to the idea of Bhanumathi being taken away to a home run by the NGO. She was rather happy to leave the child in their care.
Putting up a brave face, the young mother handed over the child to Vidyaakar. However, as the ambulance moved away, Vairum couldn’t hold back her tears.
By 2.30 pm, the ambulance reached the NGO’s office at Aminjikarai, from where Vidyaakar called Sahu and informed him of the plan to admit Bhanumathi at Udavum Karangal’s home at Tiruverkadu.
At the Aminjikarai office, Sahu was told that Bhanumathi’s condition was extremely bad and they suspected some cardiac disorder. Sahu contacted reporter Greeshma Gopal Giri, who on reaching Aminjikarai was told that the team had already taken the child to Tiruverkadu.
Asked whether Bhanumathi will be given a bath, the staff at the Aminjikarai office said it depended on the child’s health and the decision taken by healthcare personnel.
An hour later, when the reporter reached Tiruverkadu, the support staff had begun the task of cleaning up Bhanumathi. When contacted, Vidyaakar said that a doctor would make an assessment of the child’s condition and that she would be taken to a paediatrician on Saturday.
By the time the reporter reached the room where the child was kept, the support staff had trimmed Bhanumathi’s hair. Later, they washed her and dressed her in new clothes. She was then taken to another room, where some two-year-old children were present.
Though tiny tots gathered around her, Bhanumathi did not respond. She did not cry, but gave the same blank stare that she had, when sighted by our photographer on the pavement.
Later, Bhanu was fed with milk and put in a cradle. As she slept, the staff clipped her nails. It was time for the reporter to bid goodbye. Bhanumathi, now has a home
The article in Indian Express 9 Aug.jpg
After a helping hand, Bhanu needs Nutrition ----August 11 2008
CHENNAI: Little Bhanumathi had good news on Sunday — in fact, two of them. While doctors certified that her emaciated condition was the result of severe malnutrition and not due to a host of diseases as was being feared, her mother, Vairam, joined her at the rescue home of her own accord.
Bhanumathi’s rescue might have given Vairam a chance to make a fresh beginning and escape the drudgery and exploitation she faced in the slum along the pavement of Langs Garden Road in Pudupet.
On Sunday, when the founder of Udavum Karangal, Vidyakar, had gone to the slum to get Vairam’s signature on a document to certify that she was okay with Bhanumathi staying in the rescue home, he found her hiding in a toilet.
Vairam was actually trying to escape from her uncle. Earlier in the morning, he called on her demanding money and beat her when she refused to give any. “There was no money. Though I tried to convince him, he went on thrashing me,” she later told to this website's newspaper. It was difficult for her to walk and there were bruises on her thighs and hand.
Vairam said her uncle, a tri-cycle puller with a junk dealer, wanted her money to buy liquor. She said her family members always took away her earnings, leaving her with no money to buy food.
Vidyakar asked Vairam if she would like to live in his destitute home and she agreed. He said, “She is under stress... there were many slashes and wounds on her arms, which could be self-inflicted.”
Meanwhile, Bhanumathi’s medical report said that there were no serious health concerns. However, she requires a high protein and high calorie diet
