Marital disputes can arise from petty and serious issues, but miracles do happen. As it did in the recent case of a mentally disturbed woman being united with her husband by the Eera Nenjam Charitable Trust in Coimbatore. Later he nursed her back to health and today the couple have a second child.

P Mahendran of Eera Nenjam tells The Covai Post: “We are managing a shelter for destitute and the mentally challenged people at Arokiasamy Street in R S Puram. “Two years back, the public and police found a mentally disturbed woman loitering on a street. We brought her to our shelter and understood that she was married because she was wearing a ‘mangalyam’.

“She did not speak and refused to eat. When we asked her name she just bit her teeth and kept quiet. Two days later, she had fever and when we took her to the doctor, he found that she was lactating and had breast pain.”

The Trust, he said, understood that she was a new mother and began searching for her family while taking care of her. They put her photo in Facebook, searched other shelters and missing complaint records in police stations but nothing came up.

“She ate sparingly and remained silent and dull. Nearly ten days passed and then we took her to a psychiatrist. There the doctor was able to make her talk and after some treatment, she gave a phone number. We called that number and her husband Janakiraman, a crane driver answered,” said Mahendran.

A fortnight had passed since this woman was found. Janakiraman admitted that she was his wife Sasikala and that they had a two-month-old daughter.

They had a love marriage and her family had kept her after childbirth. They sent the baby to Janakiraman and refused to let him meet Sasikala.

Sasikala, hailing from a daily wage working familys, became depressed and in her unstable state escaped from home and somehow came to Coimbatore.

Janakiraman promised to come and take her. He travelled nearly 18 hours with thumbed rides on buses, trucks and trains with a baby to reach Coimbatore after two days. He saw Sasikala and cried aloud.

“His outburst of tears was pathetic to see, just like the films. She remained still but when he pretended to leave she followed him.

“They stayed two more days and he promised to nurse her back to health. He took the prescribed medicines and escorted her back home. He would often call us to update about Sasikala’s health that improved rapidly. Last year he told us that she had conceived again; we wished him and now they have a healthy baby boy,” concluded Mahendran.