Sheetal and her husband Vishal Walia at Ashra. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 15: Vishal Walia heaved a sigh of relief as he boarded the Tapaswini Express from the railway station here today. With him was Sheetal, his wife clutching tight a framed picture of Lord Jagannath — her farewell gift from the team of Ashra, a voluntary body working for the mentally ill.

Vishal who works as a small-time automobile mechanic at Shakti in Chhattisgarh was meeting his wife yesterday after a gap of 14 months. Sheetal, then suffering from mental disorder had left home, her husband and a 10-year-old son.

“It was like any other day. She left home saying she was going towards the market and never returned. We looked for her everywhere, in all the possible places but in vain,” Vishal said.

He had then filed an FIR at the local police station and issued advertisements in different newspapers but there was no response.

Sheetal was rescued by the Government Railway Police here on March 23 last year. She was subsequently handed over to Ashra.

For the volunteers at Ashra, Sheetal appeared quite a contrast to the usual victims they had. “She was pretty and well-dressed. She had pinned up her saree and was wearing bangles with a matching bindi,” recalls Pratima Nanda, assistant-superintendent of Mission Ashra.

“She was physically sound but remained silent. Despite efforts, we could not make her speak. She remained the same for days without speaking anything,” said Nanda.

However, her condition improved after a few days of medication and she started giving some telephone numbers. But they did not work, Nanda said. As her condition gradually improved, Sheetal began recalling her son and husband and recalled his telephone number.

“We tried the new number and surprisingly it worked. We could contact Vishal and he immediately agreed to come,” said Nanda.

“It was unbelievable. I closed down my shop immediately and rushed here. I have left my son with a relative. He will be so happy once he sees his mother. He used to ask me everyday, now I have an answer,” said Vishal. As a farewell gift Sheetal was given a framed picture of Lord Jagannath, a saree and money for the train tickets.

Besides her, seven inmates of Ashra were given a warm farewell by the management. The inmates — Basanti Lata, Astumbi Sarkar, Purnima Sarkar, Shanti Shah Ratna Karamkar, Anita Paloi and Saraswati Ghosh — who have now returned to normal life, were reunited with their families who had come to receive them.

“Our re-union teams have persuaded the families to accept them but we understand that this is a challenge for all of us,” said director Mission Ashra Gobinda Pattnaik.