Daddy could have lived,if only A distraught daughter-in-law writes about the tragic death of Manohar Lal Sharma,77,who left his Delhi residence on May 30 and was found dead in a residential area five days later.Suffering from dementia,he couldnt find his way back home.The citys callousness killed him Jyoti Sharma On June 4,my father-inlaw was found dead in a lane of a slum,Sangam Vihar,in Delhi.He had died of hunger,thirst and dehydration after five days of walking around,lost on the unfeeling streets of Delhi. Daddy had dementia.Other than that,he was perfectly fit mentally and physically.At 77,he glowed with good health,was never ill and was always alert and active.He looked good,was welldressed and spoke well. A retired Air Force officer,who was also a Sanskrit scholar,he was a rare combination of independent thinking and a deep philosophical spirituality. On the afternoon of May 30,he was alone at home with a caretaker from a professional nursing agency.The caretaker forgot to lock the main door and went off to sleep.While he slept,Daddy decided to go out perhaps to buy a cigarette or maybe just for a walk.He went out and then forgot where his home was.He never returned. As daddy wandered around trying to find his way back home,no one noticed this old man walking all alone.In this city of busy 17 million people,no one had time to read the confusion on his face.No one realised that when he was staring at them,he was actually trying to prod his forgetful mind to remember if he knew this person.He did not ask for food so no one offered him any.He did not fit the popular image of a destitute so no good Samaritan tried to help him.He was just a harmless old man so the patrolling police cars did not pay any attention to him.At night,when he probably slept on a roadside,this new addition to the thousands already on the streets went unnoticed. On his last day,he was seen trying to enter houses,probably asking for Sanjeev-Ranjeev,his sons.He kept falling down.People laughed at him,thinking he was a drunkard and a madman.Even at the slum,no one recognised the symptoms of acute hunger and thirst.No one called the police.No one offered to take him home or called up a hospital.A couple of people did offer him water.He drank it and that gave him the strength to walk a few steps before he collapsed again.No one bothered to help him.They only got bothered when he fell down for the last time and did not move for two hours,not because they were worried about him but because they did not like the idea of a corpse lying near their house. We have spent hours torturing ourselves with thoughts of his confusion,helplessness,trauma and the physical hurt he would have endured.We blame ourselves perhaps we did not look after him well enough.We get angry how can a city be so callous What were the police doing Of what use is this huge police force and the state-of-the-art integrated data system if you cannot spot a man whose photograph and clear description was there with all police stations of seven states And that too a man who was making no attempt to hide himself ! Why did the welfare staff and doles not reach him Why were people so blind to his suffering Does this mean that apathy and cruelty are common to all,be it the rich or poor We have now come to terms with his horrifying death.As rationality reasserts itself,we realise that it was the disconnect between the police,welfare set-up and people that caused this tragedy.The police and welfare setup are inefficient and blind.They depend upon citizens to lead them to those who need to be brought into their sights.So,unless people proactively link up with the police and welfare systems,such tragedies will continue. What happened to daddy must not happen to anyone else.We should tell everyone we know: Do not hesitate to say Help me to people or the authorities if youre in trouble.Have faith at least one out of 50 you seek help from will respond. We can follow a simple rule: We will take note of all old people on the roads and ask them Are you ok,do you need help And finally,can you write this simple letter to the chief minister Build pyaaus in every public area.I know of an old man who died of thirst in a bustling city because he could not buy water to drink.Dont let this happen to anyone else.Water for basic sustenance is a right that must be made available to all. (Jyoti Sharma runs an NGO,FORCE,which campaigns for water conservation)
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:47:15 +0000
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