That hot Sunday morning last week, Lakshmi sat on a bed as her father Shambhu oiled her hair. Their family of five had just returned the previous day after a two-day train journey from Rampur Kodar Kutti, near Araria in Bihar, where the monsoon had wrecked havoc. Jodhpur, on the other hand, was yet to see rain this year.
Lakshmi and her family moved to Jodhpur after the surgery. It was a place they had never been to before but when the Sucheta Kriplani Shiksha Niketan, the school for handicapped children offered to take the family in, they saw no reason to refuse.
Shambhu had worked as a labourer in his village, making Rs 30 to Rs 40 on the days he got work, but here at the school, they were given a place to stay and Mithilesh, the elder son who had had no formal education before, was enrolled in school.
"I'll give my life for Lakshmi and do whatever it takes to see that she gets alright," says Shambhu who does odd jobs at the school. "She gets some boils and fever at times," says Poonam, her mother.
Image: Lakshmi with her parents.
Also see: Baby Lakshmi's remarkable recovery
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