Having lost passport, former IITian now forced to sell handmade paintings in US

Jayshree claims to be a 1991 alumni of IIT Kharagpur and a resident of New Alipore in Kolkata. She later worked with IT giants like TCS Cognizant and stayed in various cities in the US including California and San Francisco. In a video being widely circulated on Facebook, Jayshri says, “I am a software engineer. I worked for HCL and other companies.” In the video, she can be seen giving her contact details asking for a job offer. However, when calls were made on to the number she provided, they went unanswered.

“We were not aware of her condition. We are shocked. Last time we spoke in September 2017. We will try and seek government’s help to bring her back if she wants to,” said Maitreyi Talapatra, Jayshri’s sister. Jayshri has been in the United States for last 18 years.

“We met her on the streets while she was selling paintings. We spoke to her for an hour knowing she is an Indian and then she opened up. I asked her about what she was doing and I was shocked to hear her story. We are trying to help her. She said she lost her passport and other IDs. She just had photocopies of her IDs. Without passport and IDs, she will not get a place to stay on rent or insurance, medical benefits or even a job,” said Prabhat Page who is based in Washington working in the field of hi-tech sales.

Jayshri told Prabhat that she needs a job and an accommodation. “It looked like she is under stress for a long time. She told me she was doing well till 2014 after that life became a mess for her,” said Prabhat. “She was sharing an apartment with some people one and half years back. She faced some harassment. She was looking for a job. She got an offer from Seattle and the contractor told her that she will get a job in two days. She moved to Seattle. But the interview didn’t happen. She then lost her bag while travelling,” he added. “She told me people wanted her to go to a homeless shelter here. But she chose to live in a motel. She told us that she tried to contact her relatives in Kolkata, but they did not receive her calls. I called up her sister, who said she will try and help.”