“Caught in the crossfire”

In her thought-provoking letter "Caught in the crossfire” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, March 21, 2007), Roda Hakim writes: "We need to help the Modys” of Ahmedabad who lost their son in the riots And so, for the Mody family I have this true, recently experienced story.

I am attached to a boys’ orphanage in Neemuch, run by the Red Cross. About three years back the police sent to us a slightly mentally challenged boy about nine years of age. He was found in a nearby town, wandering aimlessly on the streets in a pitiable condition. The police kept him in the Station House for a few days where he used to entertain everyone by saluting and marching.

Three years went by in the orphanage when, on April 6, 2007, a man arrived to claim the boy as his son. It seems that the father had met with a very serious accident five years earlier. The villagers had asked the boy’s mama (maternal uncle) to look after the child whose mother had died during the birth of her second child. However, the mama ill-treated the boy who ran away. The police found him loitering in the streets and brought him to the orphanage.

It took nearly two years for the father to be fit enough to leave the hospital. He began the search for his only child at once until fate brought him to the orphanage. It was an emotional reunion for both.

Dear Mody family, we pray to Ahura Mazda to unite you with your loved one. We request all those attached to orphanages and/or doing social work, to be on the look out for the young Mody lad. Till then may God grant the family strength and courage.

SOONU JAL

Neemuch