Every Cloud has a silver Lining – A Short story on Mental Health by Trina Kanungo

A little girl was born in a government hospital in the Uttarpara Kotrung Municipality, in the year 1992, 7 th of June. Just after 4 days of her birth , she was detected with acute jaundice, due to cross infection in
the infant ward.

She was at once shifted to Taratala Matrisadan, Kolkata as her condition was critical. Doctors there,
immediately started her blood transfusion treatment. It was a difficult phase for an infant to go through
this major blood transfusion, but by God’s grace this little girl survived this war.
As she was released from the hospital, she headed to her home with her parents, but she did not
receive a warm welcome, as the family was expecting a male child.

From here, began a strange story , where that little girl had to fight each day with her own family, to
survive , as she was not a male child!She was given minimalistic food and clothing , as much as needed for a very poor kind of survival.Whereas, her two cousins were given lavish clothing , ample fancy foods, irrespective of the fact that one of her cousin was a girl child too! They had very average track record in academics, but they were always rewarded handsomely after each academic year. She has always maintained a decent result , scoring 90% above everytime, but she was not given any appraisal , as if , it was her obligation to score the best marks , as she was a “girl child”.

Even for silly mistakes made in her exam papers, she was brutally punished by her mother, she was
pushed out of her house, in the dark garden. She was immensely scared of darkness. But she was that
type of girl who used to seldom cry. It was a miracle, that she had a high endurance capacity. She did not
shed tears often. The moment she was pushed out in to the dark garden, she used to panic in fear, and
out of that she used to cry timidly.She was always told that she will have to sacrifice everything for her cousins as their father had no job.To her utter surprise, it was all alone she, who had to sacrifice even her basic necessities. But her cousins led a lavish lifestyle with costly clothing, costly food, costly schooling, costly stationeries, lavish birthday celebrations, etc. She was not even , allowed to buy good quality stationery items like pen, pencil, notebooks for her studies. She was given second hand text books. She was even not permitted to ask for food, even if she was hungry, not even to her parents. She saw her mother cooking delicacies for her cousins, but she used to have basic Marie biscuits in her school tiffin , and boiled rice , potato mash, or her daily meals.

She had computer as a subject since she was in her third standard. She had keen interest in coding. But
she was not given any desktop. Even for filling up forms for her college admission, she had to visit cyber
café, and do the needful tasks.

During festivals, her cousins were given costly ethnic attires, often branded jewelry, make up tools,
whereas she was given barely 100 or 200 rupees note. She used to save them in her little piggy bank,
She used to buy her reference books with them throughout the academic years.

During the marriage of her cousin sister, her father sponsored a lavish marriage for his niece. After a
long time, she received a laptop during her second year of graduation. It was a long wait indeed. She has
scored a second division , in her graduation results. She was bitterly treated then, rebuked brutally for
not scoring a first division marks. She was mentally shattered then. Even outside relatives started
making fun of her.Gradually she recoiled her strength and she went to pursue her masters from one of the IITs. After scoring 8.67 OGPA, she returned home again, and started preparing for Government jobs. Here again, her energy was shattered when she could not clear the exams in her first attempt. Her family, her relatives, started mocking her again, she was even rebuked for having food out of her father’s income. Slowly but steadily , she started to consume least food possible, out of immense grief. She used to visit Shiv Temples, as she started to identify her nature with Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva is worshipped with minimalistic set up, so she started explain herself , that being a disciple of Lord Shiva, she is also meant to have minimalistic necessities of basic survival.

She went to Dr. Soupayan Datta, renowned cardiologist , in Lansdowne , Kolkata. He was their family
physician, and he used to moniter her mental health since her childhood. He was somehow a counsellor
to her since her tender age. When he heard her frustrations , he shared some valuable tips of cracking
competitive level examinations, and by God’s grace, the next year she cracked preliminary, mains and
interview sessions and got joining letter from 4 public sector banks and 1 government insurance
company . She is now working in one of the government insurance company.

She had a tough time in her city life, where she got posted . For the first six months, she had no proper
meals to have, no proper diet , nothing. She took overtime duties to accumulate extra money in her
salary account, to fight with the high expenses of the city life. In less than 100 rupees, she used to have
four meals a day, and this way gradually , she survived well. Her timid calm composed nature , somehow
acted as a catalyst to make her survive in the financial capital of India!

Observations to note:
1. She had keen interest in painting, writing poems, yoga , swimming; still she is a patient of
Claustrophobia and Acrophobia.
2. She loved dancing since her childhood. But she got rebuked whenever she attempted to
perform anywhere. She has little stage fright too.

3. Children are made with delicate minds, they need some gifts and rewards for their motivation in
anything they perform, be it – general proficiency or extra cocurricular activity, but she received
nothing, not a single penny anytime.
4. What sacrifices and difficulties were meant for her cousins, her parents made her go through
the same; her cousins were given unnecessary comforts. This has always shattered her
confidence level, and she turned out timid and silent.
5. She was always mocked in her friend circle ,as she was never allowed to participate in any social
gathering; she was only meant to study and bring good marks , without any reward.
6. Constant provocation and rebukes made her desperate to leave her hometown. She loves her
city postings a lot, as she has a new world which she has built, out of her calm and composed
nature.
7. The only place of her repose was her maternal grandpa-to whom , she used to share every pros
and cons of her life. He was her role model and best friend .
8. She speaks very less, her voice still shivers whenever she gives any presentation in office. But
once she starts , she reconciles herself, and gains confidence.
9. She still has that creative mind in herself, she still writes poems , paints , and upkeeps her fitness
regime with yoga.
10. She is now a popular name in society and social media. But still she has a list of regrets and
emptiness in her life. She enjoys her solitude, and prefers to remain silent. She is a good listener
, but she is still struggling to be a good speaker

Mental disorders bullet points:
1. She had a creative mind, still she has a fear of darkness
2. She has grown up seeing immense partiality of behavior of her family towards her and her
cousins. She could have grown jealous, but she has made herself aloof from her family, even
from her parents. She avoids attending any social/family gathering in her hometown. But she
enjoys travelling other states in India, she even writes travel stories, she has interest in culinary
cuisines of the various local forms of foods, and in their folk arts.
3. Since she had to struggle for basic hunger since her childhood, (inspite of the fact that her
father was a clerk in a public sector bank), she has developed an immense resistance power
physically. In the four brutal COVID waves, she remained asymptomatically negative everytime.
4. She actually survives well in very little food. Yes ,she has some deficiency disorders , she is under
medical supervision, but she has lost her food craving forever. She eats just to fill her stomach,
she has no urge towards good food.
5. She has no urge towards materialistic items, which generally people have after retirement. She
does not love jewelry, attires but loves to spend her spare time in office work, or in her literary
commitments .

CONCLUSION:
This case study should be an example to all parents. Please note that , bringing a child to this earth is
solely their decision, the child had no role in it. Just because it was a girl child, as parents, they did not
have any right to let that poor child suffer so much. It is basically a matter of acute child abuse, that had
affected her mental health and made her immensely silent , yet calm and composed. Yes ! she uses the
same as strength in her family life and in her professional life. But these incidents which she had
undergone through out in her childhood, could have more adverse affects in her mind, she could have
turned insane .

Message:
Please donot let your child suffer under any circumstance. The childhood is a golden period, if it passes once in adversity, you cannot reconcile it back under any condition.
Kindly treat your child as God’s gift , be it a girl or a boy, please accept it the way. Donot abuse her