Dinu Chhoga

Among the first people I meet is Dinu Chhoga. She is in her seventies, ridden with arthritis. She is lying down on the bed and is incapable of getting up herself. A servant has to help her up. Her fingers have all curled up and become completely useless. Her husband Noshir is well into his seventies too and again, not keeping well. The couple have no children. Their savings, nothing much to speak of anyway, have dwindled after retirement. Through charity, they manage to raise Rs.2500 each month, 1500 of which goes to the servant without whom they are helpless. The house is big, but bare for the most part, with a colour TV standing incongruously in one corner. It is probably a gift from a concerned relative so that the home-bound couple can have something to do, but the servant’s family watch it more than they do.

Dinu Chhoga sits and prays in her home on Dastur Meher Road, Pune