Siliguri, Oct. 19: Like most girls of her age, Julie celebrated her first birthday surrounded by her loved ones.

The only difference is that the birthday party was held at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) and her parents were not present. Last year, on this date, her mother died at childbirth and Julie’s father Umalya Karmakar never returned to take her back home.

But little Julie probably did not miss her parents. The balloons were there and so was the cake with a single candle flickering on top of it.

And dresses she had in plenty for her birthday coincided with the Pujas. Members of the junior doctors’ council and the nursing staff have been mothering her for the past one year at the paediatrics unit of NBMCH.

“We were waiting eagerly for this special day and had planned the party early,” said Bhaskar Roy, the president of the junior doctors’ council. For a few days in the middle of this year, Julie had company. Another newborn, who had also lost her mother at birth in August, had stayed for a few weeks at the hospital. She had been named Mili.

Later, Mili’s father, on reading the story in the September 6 edition of The Telegraph, had taken the girl home.

Several applications for adopting Julie have also come to the medical college. All the letters have been sent to the subdivisional officer (SDO).

“I have received about 15 letters in the last couple of months. Another 20 have come to the NBMCH authorities. We have sent all the letters to the SDO for sorting. No selection has been made yet,” said Roy.

The junior doctors are happy that they have been able to celebrate Julie’s birthday.

“We could not trace her father, but at least we know her birthday,” said Baidyanath Das, a junior doctor.