MUMBAI, July 11: Every time Mangal Patil saw an aeroplane, she would ask her superitendent Prabha Iyer, ``Didi, the plane is flying so high. How do people get into it ? Will I be able to fly in one?''On Thursday night, the 21-year-old flew back in an Alitalia flight to a warm welcome at Shiv Chhatrapati Airport, Sahar. Mangal was returning from the World Special Olympics in North Carolina, USA, a silver medal for badminton strung proudly around her neck. Her flight to success only softens a sorry past.Mangal was abandoned when she was 12-years-old, by parents who could not come to terms with her mental handicap. She was found by policemen on the streets of Mumbai, and sent to the Juvenile Welfare Board (JWB). The Board sent her to the Home for Mentally Deficient Children (HMDC), Mankhurd, which houses 279 other boys and girls like Mangal, abandoned and homeless.Tests revealed her IQ to be between 50-70, a borderline case. She lacked in scholastic ability and arithmetic skills, and could notsynthesise differences or similarities in objects.Mangal was put through the rehabilitation process - special education, vocational training and sports. She showed keen interest in sport, especially athletics and badminton. Nileema Koyande, her sports teacher, nurtured her promise. Mangal was selected to represent India at the Special Olympics after her performance at the Nationals in Chandigarh. She was the only destitute participant from Maharashtra. She almost did not make the flight, reveals Iyer.``Her passport did not arrive till the last moment. Since she was a destitute, she had no papers, no ration card. Thankfully, the chief officer of the Children Aids Society, AR Shaikh, came to her rescue.''``Then there were other hurdles. She was a government child. Getting clearances were tough. The JWB, the Social Welfare Board, they all wanted to know who would be responsible for her,'' Iyer said.Finally, Mangal took the flight. HMDC hired a bus to drop her at the airport, with 35 other studentsin tow, bidding her a tearful farewell.``She cried that day. She kept saying, `even others did not get the send-off I got','' added Iyer.Yesterday, when she returned, the pride in her face was only too apparent. She wheeled her suitcases out of the crowded terminal, before Iyer bundled her into a hug, saying, ``I have no words to describe how happy I feel.''Among her baggage were some sentimental gifts. Mangal had brought back chocolates and biscuits for her friends, for her teachers, for the attendants who took her for practice everyday at the BARC courts - and some for herself.
