HYDERABAD: Karthik, 43, was one of the thousands of Indians who migrate to other countries seeking livelihood to ensure a stable life for their family members. After working in the US for eight years, he managed to get both his sister and brother married.
A few years back, he returned to India to get married. However, he couldn’t arrange the ceremony due to his mother’s untimely demise. His siblings disappeared from Karthik’s life soon, leaving him orphaned and homeless. He soon started suffering from mental health issues and had by then started living on the streets of Dilsukhnagar.
He was rescued by G Giri, 38, founder of Mathrudevobhava Anadha Ashramam in 2018, who provided Karthik food, shelter and medication. Today, 70 per cent of his illness has been cured.
Since his family is not interested in taking him back, Karthik has made the ashram, operating from a rented building at Nadergul village of Balapur mandal in Rangareddy district, his home and is currently helping out Giri with computer work.
A visit to the ashram reveals how the social institution of family has been deteriorating, as 80 per cent of the 100 inmates here were deserted by their own relatives, forcing them to sleep on footpaths, and eat and drink whatever they could find -- even if from garbage cans. The remaining inmates are those who couldn’t achieve what they wanted in lives.
“As per a survey we carried out in temporary shelters set up when Ivanka Trump visited Hyderabad, where all those who were destitute were housed, there were 3,800 persons suffering from various mental illnesses in Hyderabad. This number could have gone up to 4,500 by now,” says Giri, whose ashram had accommodated 50 people who had to be resettled after the temporary shelter was dismantled due to operational issues between the Jail Department and the GHMC.
Madanmohan Chary, 75, one of the inmates, was a government employee who worked in the Nagarjuna Sagar Power Plant. Due to his alcohol addiction, Madanmohan’s wife and children left him. His brother also deserted the man after selling his property off. Though not mentally-ill, Madanmohan lived seeking alms at Badangpet for 17 years.
He was rehabilitated by the ashram in 2018 and now he is the priest who performs weddings, birthdays and other ceremonies of donors who celebrate their important occasions here.
Madanmohan Chary also attends to rituals outside the ashram and makes enough to support himself, apart from getting a salary of Rs 9,000 from Giri. And yes, he is free from alcohol and no longer wants to meet his family. More than 200 mentally-ill people were rehabilitated here in three years and reunited with their families.
Mentioning that as the inmates need to be taken to Erragadda Hospital for treatment once a week, which involves heavy expenditure on travel and the patients tend to urinate and excrete on the way, Giri says: “It would be great if a doctor from there could spare a day once a week to come and treat the patients at the ashram itself.”
Request to doctors, government
Mentioning that as the inmates need to be taken to Erragadda Hospital for treatment once a week, which involves heavy expenditure on travel and the patients tend to urinate and excrete on the way, Giri says: “It would be great if a doctor from there could spare a day once a week to come and treat the patients at the ashram itself.” He also urged the government to provide permanent land so that he can rehabilitate more persons in the ashram.