United in pain at PGI sarai

chandigarh:it is pain that unites them together and it is pain that has brought them here. these 300-odd inmates of pgi sarai are joined together by the bond of their troubled times. with patients and their families living in the sarai for months and even years, the place has virtually become a second home for most of them. shiv kumar, from hamirpur in himachal pradesh, who lost his parents five months ago in an accident and stayed in this sarai without any family support for five months, comes back often to this place.‘‘even though my treatment is over, i come back to help those who have no one around,’’ says kumar, adding that he will not go back until few of his abandoned friends in the sarai have undergone treatment. for ramkrishan and his family, from gorakhpur in uttar pradesh, the two corner beds in ‘lifeline sarai’ have been their home for more than a year. brought to pgi with fractured leg one-and-a-half year ago, ramkrishan has undergone two operations and still awaits to stand on his feet. his wife and two children are now part of the big family at sarai, joined by the common string of pain. besides, the sarai is an economical option, says ramkrishan adding that staying outside is beyond their budget.with free food provided by the mansa devi trust, he feels that his children are at least taken care of. there are others who are waiting treatment, with most of the patients in line for kidney transplants. sunil tiwari, a court document writer from patna, along with his wife and younger brother, is one of them.waiting for transplant for past ten months,tiwari feels a strong bond with the rest of the inmates. another diverse example of this string of pain is ten-year-old farooq from surankote in poonch who awaits his father lal hussain’s recovery, who has undergone an open heart surgery at pgi. more than 500 km away from his family,farooq has been living in the sarai, most of the time alone, for past five months. ‘‘i miss home but here i have found friends of my age who are in equal trouble,’’ he relates. even though most of the inmates do not have much to celebrate about, they try to grab moments of relief. ‘‘in the evening we talk out our problems, play an occasional game of cards or watch television together to relieve our tensions,’’ says gopal mishra from patna, who is the kidney donor for his brother.