After two “mothers” declined to take custody of Manji Yamada, a Japanese baby born to an Indian surrogate mother on July 25, a third ‘mother’, Shweta Vijaywarghia, a friend of Manji’s family who gave birth only a day before, came forward to nurse the infant. Manji, whose grandmother, Emiko, is staying with her, and Shweta, are presently admitted in adjoining rooms of Jaipur’s Arya Hospital. However, Manji’s experience of maternal warmth may be short lived.Born to an Indian surrogate mother in Gujarat, Manji’s Japanese mother, Yuki, refused to take custody of the baby after she divorced her husband Dr Ikufumi Yamada in June this year. As a result, Manji was, for all practical purposes, abandoned — the absence of a law governing surrogacy in India meant that Dr Yamada would have to adopt Manji to claim his parental rights, but that isn’t possible since he is now a single father. In the midst of these complications, Kamal Vijaywarghia, an old friend of Yamada and his wife Shweta have provided much-needed support to the Japanese family. “Manji cannot possibly be left without care. For now only her 70-year-old grandmother, Emiko, is here to help her and we are her only link to her father. My wife gave birth to our baby girl on Tuesday and agreed to start feeding Manji on Wednesday,” Vijaywarghia said.Dr Sanjay Arya, director of Arya Hospital, confirmed that Manji was fed four times on Wednesday. “Manji has responded well and the feeding will continue for as long as Shweta is in the hospital. It’s uncanny, both infants are almost of the same weight and look alike,” Dr Arya said, adding that both babies were healthy and that he hoped they would grow up to become friends.But Vijaywarghia has not lost sight of the problems ahead. “Once my wife is discharged, then what? Emiko is visiting India for the first time and cannot speak a word of English and nobody here but me understands Japanese,” he said. Meanwhile, the legal process to allow Manji to return to Japan began on Wednesday after Arya Hospital authorities decided to move the Rajasthan High Court to transfer custody of the baby to Emiko Yamada, her paternal grandmother. Yamada, through Vijaywarghia, have asked Supreme Court advocate Indira Jaising to represent them in court and expedite the process to reunite father and daughter.
