BENGALURU: A fortnight after her husband passed away in Bengaluru, Rajeshwari boarded a flight from Muscat to catch a final glimpse of him. The 45-year-old mother of two sons went to Oman to work as a domestic help over a year ago, and got stranded there, thanks to an unscrupulous agent. Her ailing husband, meanwhile, passed away due to health problems at their house near Hessarghatta Post in North Bengaluru.
Her older son R Arun, who works as a school bus driver, told TNIE, “My father was ailing due to kidney-related issues and breathing problems, and she was desperate to return and take care of him. But she was not allowed to leave Oman. He passed away on October 3, and respecting her desire to see him one last time and perform some rituals, we are preserving his body.”
The family has kept the body in a special box with ice packs near their house, and are awaiting her arrival. “We have availed the services of an individual who embalms bodies,” he said. P A Hamid Padubidri, an Udupi native employed with a private firm in Saudi Arabia, and who works as a pro bono lawyer for the labour workforce in UAE, told TNIE over phone, “I just got the good news through my contacts that Rajeshwari will be repatriated tonight (Tuesday) to India. She also sent me a voice message. She was relieved when she was finally given travel documents and a ticket by the Indian Embassy.”
Rajeshwari was facing a major hurdle in reaching India as she was brought to Oman on a tourist visa by an agent from Bengaluru. Padubidri said, “The tourist visa has one-month validity and can be extended to a maximum of three months, with another 10-day grace period. The agent handed her over to another agent in Oman, who sent her to a sponsor’s house near Muscat. Backbreaking work for 18 hours, plus her asthma, made her want to leave but the family insisted that she pay back Rs 2 lakh the sponsor had paid the agent for hiring her.”
A month ago, Rajeshwari escaped. “She packed her belongings and flagged down a taxi at 4am. She reached the Indian Embassy, 160km away. For the past month, she has been waiting there for her papers to be cleared to go home. She needed to pay at least Rs 1 lakh (500 Oman Riyals) as fine to the Oman government for overstaying her tourist visa. Every day, she was given hope that she would be allowed to go, explained the lawyer who was in regular touch with her and was interacting with embassy officials on her behalf.