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Challenge in life -a reality

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by Hemant Bondre
Every person in his/her life dreams of some positive thing to happen and acts accordingly. In most of the cases the result turns out to be good. However, sometimes in somebody’s life, Destiny has different to offer. And that is what happened in my life about 33 years ago. Generally, the birth of a baby multiplies joys & happiness among family members. However in our family when our daughter was born, the happiness was accompanied with lots of worries in mind.

A baby girl was born to us on 2nd May 1980. She was quite nice looking, very fair, but with lot of deformities. It was a terrific shock to all our family members, rather everyone was stunned to see such child. Due to premature delivery, the child had to be kept in incubator. Since her weight was very less, the milk to the child had to be fed through a nozzle tube. It was a difficult to face the reality, but myself & my wife, Hema, decided to accept the challenge and to shoulder the responsibility to bring her back to life. The child was named Suchitra.

As the months passed, on the advice of the Pediatrician, we consulted Dr. Arwade, a renowned Orthopedic surgeon. After examining her thoroughly, he advised two major surgeries on Suchitra, one on twisted toe & the other on hip joint dislocation. When she was 9 months old, the first major surgery was done wherein her right toe, which was in opposite direction, was corrected, which is called Z type surgery. Both her legs were in plaster from waist to toe for 3 months.

suchitra bondre belgaum When she was 2 & half years old Dr.Arwade advised us for another major surgery for correction of hip joint dislocation. During consultation, he took both of us in confidence & told us about the seriousness of this surgery. Dr Arwade took a second opinion of Dr Dholkia from Mumbai & requested Dr Pachore, his assistant to help in this surgery. The surgery lasted for more than 6 hours. I was under a lot of tension & was down with heavy fever. When the surgery was successfully over, Dr Pachore told me this good news which gave us a sigh of relief. Again her legs were in plaster for 3 months.

These three months were full of mental tension for me & Hema. It was very difficult to handle the baby even for nature’s calls because she had a plaster from waist to toe in 60 degree angle .Today while writing this script I do not know how we spent those 3 months.

It was our feeling that once the plaster is removed she would start walking immediately. But Destiny had something different in mind. Even after one week of removal of plaster there was no sign of progress in walking. Dr Arwade gave us confidence saying that during the period that she was in plaster, the child has totally forgotten the walking stage. In his opinion she would again crawl, then try to stand up & then walk .In reality it happened exactly what the Doctor had said.She started walking after one month but with limping leg .This is so because since birth there is a difference of one and half inch in her legs.

Though she had these two deformities since birth, fortunately, her brain development is normal. Her admission to the school was also a challenge for us. Due to an abnormality in walking, the school principal was reluctant to admit her along with normal children. But ultimately she got admission in the same school.

By the grace of God, academically her progress was quite satisfactory. She got 1st class in SSLC and 2nd class in BCom & LLB Exams. She won many prizes in Debating Competition at Inter-school & Inter-collegiate level. She is a winner in many singing competitions too. She plays the harmonium and got through exams of Gandharv Sangeet Vidyalaya. In spite of her physical limitations, she learnt cycling & swimming. In fact from 5th Std. to B Com level she used to go to school/college on cycle covering a distance of about three Kms one way. When she joined Law college, she started using regular Scooty with two side wheels.

After completion of LLB in 2007, she joined the Lokmanya Multipurpose Co-OP Society as legal advisor. She worked there for 7 months. In mid 2007 Union Bank of India’s advertisement was published for vacancies in clerical cadre. For physically challenged candidates there was only one vacancy in the State, for which 37 candidates appeared for exam. She was successful in all the criteria of appointment & posted at our R.P.D College branch in April 2008.Incidentally, in 2010 she was declared the Best CTO of Belgaum Region & was honored.

In general, all parents look forward for their daughter’s/son’s marriage once the graduation is over & they are employed. We were also not exception to this thinking. We tried for our daughter’s better half, basically, with some deformity but self supportive. This is so because a normal person would not accept his partner with deformity. For nearly 2-3 years we tried from different sources to find a suitable match for her. But we could not succeed in that process because the percentage of higher education among physically challenged grooms is less. For her security & safety in advanced age we had to think of some different avenue.

This thinking gave us an idea of adoption of a child by her who would look after her in future life, at the same time, contributing to a social cause by providing HOME to an orphan child. Since Suchitra had studied Law, she knew that Hindu unmarried woman can adopt a child. She made up her mind to remove the issue of marriage from her life & go for adoption of a child for better future. The adoption process is very lengthy & involves a lot of legal documentation process. We completed this legal part & ultimately, 18th July 2010, was a special day for us when we got a message from the orphanage to take the child home. We decided to bring the child home on 30th July 2010, when the baby boy was only four months old. He is now three years & nine months old.

The entry of a small child in our family, has not only changed our life style but it has also brought a dramatic change in Suchitra’s life. All our day -to- day activities are concentrated on SOHAM. We heave a sigh of relief, now that there would be someone to take care of Suchitra when the time comes.

This decision of adoption of a child by Suchitra, being physically handicapped, should be an ideal direction for women like her. We had taken up the challenge at the birth of Suchitra, to teach her to lead a normal life, by positive thinking. This positive thinking alone showed the path to come out of difficult situations in her life. By the grace of God, Soham’s entry in our family is a milestone decision & would give us happiness in our life.

For such exceptionally splendid work, many institutions from Belgaum have honored Suchitra. Many known & unknown people have congratulated her for this decision. We feel, we have done justice by giving a HOME to an orphan child.

21 thoughts on “Challenge in life -a reality”

  1. This lady is a wonderful example of dealing with life’s vicissitudes with a smile. Whenever I have gone to Union Bank for some service she is always there with a smiling face and does everything in her power to help me or any bank consumer. I applaud her decision and that of her family to adopt a child. Thanks for being an inspiration with your positive outlook.

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    • Suchitra.. really you have a very struggled life.. adpotion of child.. was a gud decision.. I still remember .those b.com days she use to have always a smiling face with positive attitude.. as we were from same batch mate.. all the best. Suchitra. Take care..
      Siddharth.

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  2. She is an inspiration for all of us and deserves all the support and accolades. Her parents too are equal partners in her success and should be applauded as well for their dedication….!!!! Good luck suchitra!!!

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  3. Upbringing is everything in life, Parents give you values for life,no school no university can teach you that! Adopting a orphan, wow…..hats off!!!

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  4. I know Suchitra and her family very closely. Never felt that there is something wrong with her, moreover they share good moments of life with us. If you feel you have great problem, what to do now, I am the only one person in the world to face these problems, then you just visit Suchitra’s family and you will ashamed and will feel why I am hugging with my tiny problem. Since 25 yrs I am in contact with this family, but they never expressed a word about this. The God might have given this extra-ordinary strength to them, hope this will continue forever.

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  5. I never liked the people of Belgaum until I read this article. This was because my ex-husband was from Belgaum and was mis-treated not just by him but his sister in law whose brother is a family lawyer and instigated a divorce so that he can have enough business. But after reading this article, which is so touching, I realized there are beautiful people in Belgaum too. I’m from Kolhapur and happened to read this article as it was shared on Facebook, and now I look at Belgaum from a different angle.

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    • Great to know your view has changed on Belgaum. Yes the world is a mixture of various people you found the others ones, but there are always the GOOD ones.

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  6. Madam

    I dont know what to say about your life journey.Because you are the live example for the will & wish. Truly you have shown that nothing is impossible.

    I salute your parents for making you so special.

    Sagar
    UnionKBC AMC
    Belhaum

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  7. Suchitra Hats off to your “never say die attitude”.!!! Most of us have more than we deserve yet we keep on cribbing . But, u have understood pain. How fortunate the child is to have a mother like u. Some where we have lost our soul. That is why inspite of our sp called accomplishments fulfilment still eludes us . God bless you .

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  8. Hats off to you and your parents !! Had heard about it but felt great to read it and feel lucky that I got associated with your family. Take care and all the best. Love to dear Soham

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  9. Hats off to you !
    I have known Suchitra as a Family Friend & a class mate of mine in School & College to be a sincere and dedicated student.

    Yes and as mentioned by Siddharth, a positive attitude is something which she carries all around.
    We all are proud of you 🙂

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  10. I feel proud to know you all since childhood Hemant Kaka.. I know that the journey has not been easy, but I do hope that the future will bring many smiles to your faces in the form of Soham..

    All the best!!!

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  11. I feel proud to know you all since childhood Hemant Kaka.. I know that the journey has not been easy, but I do hope that the future will bring many smiles to your faces in the form of Soham..

    Wishing you all a very bright future..

    All the best!!!

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  12. Dont know what 2 say about u mam just feeling fortunate enough to share office with you….

    pankaj kumar choudhary
    union bank of india

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  13. hum jis district sei hei,,,,,…jhan hemant sir,jaise parents nd suchitraji jaise struggler hei……….. feeling proud…..

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  14. I have seen her doing her bank duties quite nicely and efficiently as I am account holder in RPD college branch of Union Bank where she worked. I congratulate her on accepting challenges in her life. All the best for her.

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  15. I have seen her doing her bank duties quite nicely and efficiently as I am account holder in ROD college branch of Union Bank.
    I wish her all the Best to challenge the facts of life.

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  16. Hi, I was inspired after hearing about this real situation rather than calling it a story. I don’t know whether you would agree with me but since I lived in Belgaum and later Pune, I’ve found out that we crib and worry a lot for petty problems in life.I’ve tried to change people as well as myself. I emphasized more on road rules and traffic orders but no one cares a damn about you.
    Looking at the situation, I found that nothing’s gonna work. Since I had an option for me n my family, I migrated to a Western Country. But I still visit India and have a wonderful time with my family, relatives n friends.

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