Sense of Belonging
Malin Nalini Thyberg,who was adopted from SOFOSH by a Swedish couple when she was three months old,talks about her first visit to the city of her birth.
She was abandoned on a staircase near the Society of Friends of the Sassoon Hospitals,SOFOSH,hours after she was born in 1973. One would think she would face a lonely life ahead but fate smiled upon her. Meet Malin Nalini Thyberg,who was soon adopted by Swedish couple – Hans and Astrid Thyberg. A project administrator at a Swedish IT firm now,Thyberg is on her first visit to India and she made it a point to come to the city where she was born.
“I always thought of visiting India but had no immediate plans. This trip was quite sudden as my husband Niklas Pettersson got posted here,” says Thyberg,who first visited Bengaluru as Pettersson,has been posted there for two months. Though Indian by birth,she feels more connected to Sweden as she was brought up there. “I am Swedish. That country is more my home than India. I thought I would connect easily with India but the moment I reached Bengaluru,I realised that things were different. This has been the most important discovery in my life,” says the 38-year-old,who recently gave birth to her first child,Austin. “Being a mother is the world’s best feeling. Whether one is a biological or foster parent,motherhood has no substitute,” she adds with a smile.
Thyberg was very close to her foster father,Hans who succumbed to cancer 10 years ago. “I couldn’t have wished for a better father. It took me a couple of years to deal with the loss,” she says. The Thyberg family never made her feel like an outsider. “During my growing up years,it was weird to see family members and others around me who looked so different. My father’s support helped me sail through,” she shares.
Though she left the city even before she was three months old,she was always in touch with SOFOSH. “She always shared a special bond with SOFOSH. She wrote to us frequently when she was young. We would also receive positive reports from the Social Welfare Department in Sweden. But we did not hear much from her in the recent years till the day she called to inform us about her visit to the centre,” says Deepika Maharaj Singh,vice chairperson of SOFOSH. “Our job is very challenging. When we see children like Malin,it gives us immense pleasure,” she adds. Singh was delighted to see “the little one who has grown up to be independent now.”
On her two-day visit to the city,Thyberg met the district court judges,members of Mahila Bal Kalyan and the deputy commissioner of police. “It was important for me to thank the people who had helped in the adoption process,” she shares.
She has thoroughly enjoyed digging into Indian food. “I gorged on the best of idlis and dosas in Bengaluru. And indulged in dill,the Swedish version of shepu chi bhaji here,” she grins. But,her smile disappears as she talks of the homeless people around. “It pains me to see so many homeless people. I would like to adopt an Indian child soon but the process is too long now,” she says.
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