Born without an identity, month-old girl now a celebrity at Cooch Behar camps

The child is the first enclave dweller here who has obtained a birth certificate — a simple act that quickly gives away the enormity of the importance of the “paperwork” in the lives of the citizens in this part of the country. “It’s hard to explain. Neighbours came and gave small gifts. But what greater gift can there be than the one she has already received?” her mother, Malati Burman, says.

“She is the first person in our family with a birth certificate. She has an identity that will never change,” she added, perhaps unaware that her daughter is not the first person in just her family but among the entire enclave dwellers.

She quickly removed that doubt. “Every one wants to see her, because, after all, she is the first resident of an enclave to receive a birth certificate in India. Even though she was born in Bangladesh, it was only here she actually became who she is going to be,” the mother said.

While the incident surrounding Bharati’s birth made enclave dwellers come out searching for her, the doctors at the Haldibari health centre in the district, where Bharati was “born”, on November 23, were no less astounded.

“We were incredibly surprised that she (Malati) had actually managed to make the journey (on a bus from Bangladesh to the resettlement camp in India). It is no easy feat and I can only explain it as a result of her sheer strength of will. The baby was a little dehydrated, as was the mother. But soon they were perfectly fine and now they are healthy,” said Dr S Burman of the health centre.

Ever since the family’s arrival, the district administration has kept itself busy ensuring the frail baby and her mother are healthy.

Ask the mother about the journey, which also effectively meant her child ‘lost’ a day of her life, and Malati says that she always knew her daughter would have a better life outside the enclave. “It’s not a question of religion or country.

But I was born in an enclave and I thought I would die there. Life in an enclave is an unsure life, without any sureties. When we go to the hospital, we never get certificates because our addresses relegate to us a place of ‘neither here nor there’. The same thing happens at schools, colleges and with jobs. What kind of a life is that?”
She then quickly explains her new life. “Here, though I am not sure what kind of work my family will do, at least my girl is a citizen of the country and the government is responsible for her. She has rights and that is more than what I had growing up.”