Mangalore: Crawling Twins Remain Confined Within Four Walls of Home
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SP)
Mangalore, Sep 25: Lakshman and Lokanath, who are twins, have not seen the outside world except when they were carried physically by the elders, when they were very small. They are 47 years old now, and are able to move about only by crawling. They are the members of a poverty-stricken family living in Bajal Jalligudde Jayanagar in the city.
The brothers have not gone to any school, neither do they know how to read and write. They can speak only Tulu. They live with their old mother, Swaraswati (70), who ekes out a living by washing utensils at a hotel in Balmatta in the city. Their mother gets about Rs 1,500 from her work, beside Rs 400 by way of widow pension. The two brothers too get monthly pension meant for the disabled persons through postal money order, which they receive through thumb impressions.
The twins are the eldest among the four children of Saraswati and the late Rampa Naik. Rampa Naik died over two decades ago. At present, the twins live with their mother. As carrying them away is difficult, when they fall sick, their mother explains the symptoms to the doctor and brings the medicines home. The two are able to eat food and attend to their morning ablutions, while other things like bathing and washing of their clothes are done by their mother.
The family, which used to live in a rented house at Bajal, shifted here three and half decades ago, after they were allotted a five-cent land from the government in 1974. Their father, Rampa Naik, was working in a tiles factory. Saraswati knows that as per the government rules, a person whose disability is over 75%, is eligible for a monthly pension of Rs 1,000. Saraswati says, she had approached MLA N Yogish Bhat for help, and that he had promised to get the necessary medical examination done by the doctor at home, as the doctor has to certify their level of handicap. She says that the family had tried hard, when the two were young, to make them walk, by carrying them to various doctors. Even a surgery was conducted at Wenlock Hospital and belts were used to help them walk. But nothing could address their problem, she laments.
Saraswati says, Lakshman suffers from muscle spasms and cannot digest certain non-vegetarian food and hence requires medicines often for these two problems. The family's home is dilapidated. She recollects the help rendered by Kollya Sri Ramananda Swamiji, Gurudeva Balaga from Mangalore and the city-based District Handicapped Bank Employees Association some time back. "The only times my two children went out was when a priest of St Joseph Seminary took them in his vehicle to some spots in the city twice-a-week three and half decades ago," she reminisces.
It is learnt, the names of the two do not find a mention in the voters list. The family depends on firewood for cooking as they do not have a LPG connection, and the old television set at their home stopped working over three years ago. Saraswati is constantly worried about her insecure home and the future of her children after her death.
Saraswati says she would be very happy if good samaritans come forward to secure and stabilize the future of her two sons.
She says, she would be thankful if those willing to help her send contributions to her Savings Bank Account No. 1819101006196 (IFSC: CNRB0001819) in the name of Saraswathi, with Canara Bank, Pumpwell Branch, Mangalore - 575002.