Hetal's Story

Hetal was the first person I met at Bhagini Mandhir which is where the mentally handicapped women are. On my way there, on the first day, an auntie was walking her to the hospital. I talked to her for a bit and then walked with them. Hetal had a lot of trouble walking, got tired easily and needed a lot of encouragement. She spoke English relatively well, talked about her family and home in Bombay, with three rooms and two TVs. She was so talkative, like a little kid who had never had other kids to play with – eager to make friends. She’d tell me how much she loved chocolate and that she wanted to take me to eat pani puri in Bombay. She was always happy, wanted to talk, said Jai Shree Krishna and waved whenever I left her, even if it was only for a moment. Hetal was 43 years old but looked more like she was 20. I spent most of my time at Bhagini with her, partly because I met her first, and partly because of her pleasant nature. Hetal died on Saturday October 9th. She had stayed at Bhagini Mandhir for over 18 years.