Home again

Since then, Basamma has been put up at the State Home for the Mentally Retarded and the State Home for Destitute Women here. At present, she is with the Mathru Chhaya 8212; a Canara Bank Relief amp; Welfare Society run-centre for abandoned8217; women and children.

Mathru Chhaya manager Padma Subbaiah told this newspaper that Basamma8217;s husband Nancharaiah was a alcoholic. 8220;She told us that he used to beat her often. He hit her hard on the head one night in March, 1989 and she fell unconscious.8221; She reached Bangalore, but does not recollect how.

8220;At that time, the city police found her at the railway station. She could not communicate with them because she knew only Telugu. Besides, the assault had caused memory loss,8221; Padma explained.

According to Padma, Basamma was never mentally ill enough to be institutionalised. 8220;She spent nearly four years each at both the Homes and was referred to us by the Superintendent of the Home for Destitute Women in 1995. Today, she feels that the police put her in the institution because it was the easiest thing for them to do at that time,8221; Padma said.

During the long years she spent in mental homes, Basamma8217;s condition apparently improved with regular treatment and routine. Her good behaviour led her to be referred to Mathru Chhaya.

In the beginning, Basamma refused to talk about her family or her village. 8220;After seeing how elderly people lived at our Home for Elders, she told us that she wanted to see her children and go back to Repalli,8221; Padma said.

Earlier when questioned about her husband, Basamma used to react aggressively. In time, that also changed. 8220;She learned to accept what he had done to her,8221; Padma said.

After Basamma expressed her desire to go back home, Mathru Chhaya contacted Child Relief and You. Efforts of the organisation to trace her family were futile.

8220;But Basamma insisted that she could recognise her village and relatives if taken to Repalli. So Swathi, one of our social workers accompanied her on her journey last month,8221; Padma said. Shivaramakrishnan met them there.

At Repalli, Basamma realised that the entire topography of the place had changed. But then they had met a woman who suddenly screamed: 8220;Basamma vachhindi Basamma has come8221;.

The woman, Sundari, was one of Basamma8217;s old friends. Her cries brought the entire community out. Basamma finally saw her sons 8212; Potaraju and Venkatesh 8212; and her grand children. 8220;After she disappeared in 1989, her family gave her up for dead. They even performed the last rites,8221; Padma said.

Mathru Chhaya plans to send Basamma back to Repalli in June and see that she is settled there. 8220;Our organisation is networking with CRY to make Basamma a group leader for community development there,8221; Padma explained.

Basamma8217;s mother died some time ago. Her husband apparently left Repalli soon after she went missing.