Mysuru woman in Shimla hospital yearns to return

“Naanu manege hogbeku, nanna karkonduhogi” (I want to go home, please take me from here), Padma has been telling doctors and other staff members of the Himachal Hospital of Mental Health and Rehabilitation (HHMHR) in Shimla for the past two years.

But the authorities at HHMHR are unable to make out what she Padma (name given by the hospital) is saying in Kannada.

Padma, who hails from Makanahallipalya, Kampalapura village in Periyapatna taluk, Mysuru district, was found roaming around in Kangra, 217 km from Shimla. She was taken to the Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College in Kangra and later referred to HHMHR in June 2016.

When this reporter dialled HHMHR and spoke to Padma, she was thrilled that someone was speaking to her in Kannada.

“People here are very nice, but I want to go home and see my mother. My husband abandoned me and married again. I was at the Channapatna bus stand when two policewomen told me that they would take me home and then I landed here,” Padma said, recalling only a part of her journey.

She was unable to recall how she landed in Kangra, but said she was more interested in going home. The woman said she used to cook for children in “palya”.

Her address was later traced to Makanahallipalya.

HHMHR’s senior medical superintendent Dr Sanjay Pathak, who facilitated the call with Padma, said she was excited to speak in her language, but her hope of going home must not be deterred.

“It is very frustrating if one cannot express oneself in his or her language and there is no one to understand his or her language,” he said.

Dr Pathak said Padma does not suffer from any mental illness and she might have been shocked due to some incident. The woman looks a little lost and the language barrier had made only complicated things.

Officials from the state Women and Child Development department said Padma’s mother and uncle stay at Makanahallipalya. After her husband abandoned her, she had left the village.

Dr Rajani, deputy director, mental health programme, Karnataka Health and Family Welfare department, said she had spoken to Padma through a video call.

“Our officers will visit her native place to find out about her family and reunite her with them,” Rajani said.