Kochi: Saroja's fortunes changed overnight. The deserted woman who had been living with her two children at the railway station and her lottery-ticket stall on the curb has found a new home.
A day after Manorama reported the family's plight, succor poured in from all corners of the world. Sree Gokulam Group opened the doors of its quarters for the family and offered them a studio apartment at Kangarappadi near Kakkanad.
Rusaina and Nihal will no longer have to do their homework on the footpath.
Gokulam Group managing director Gokulam Gopalan said that the key to the apartment will be handed over to Saroja on July 23.
The business group has volunteered to take care of the family, Kochi mayor Soumini Jain said.
Business groups, associations and individuals from Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Kannur and Alappuzha districts have also offered land and housing for the family. Expatriates from the United States, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Korea and the West Asian countries also offered financial help.
Saroja, Rusaina and Nihal were taken to the Gokulam Group's quarters at Ravipuram in the mayor's car on Wednesday afternoon. All they had to carry were the children's schoolbooks and some old clothes. They were sent off by a large gathering of well wishers. There were even housewives who had come with whatever money they could donate.
Once Saroja and her children move into the apartment at Kangarappadi, she will be offered a job in the housekeeping division of the complex. The apartment comes with facilities including piped gas.
The Gokulam Group has also offered to support the children's education.
Saroja and the children were thrown into the streets when her husband abandoned them six months ago.
The family would stay on in the makeshift lottery stall until 10 pm, when they moved to the Ernakulam Junction railway station to sleep on the platform. Saroja said she would continue selling lottery tickets until she moved to the apartment.
"I was worried that no one ever noticed our plight when we lived in the street," Saroja said. "But everyone helped us when they came to know about us. I am grateful to them all in the name of my children."
Corporation councilors P.D. Martin, Antony Painuthara, Gokulam Group regional head P. Sunil Kumar, PRO Ranjini Suresh and Rusaina's teachers at the Government Girls' Higher Secondary School accompanied the family to the quarters.
A joint bank account has been opened in the names of Saroja and councilors P.D. Martin and Antony Painuthara in the State Bank of India's South branch (Account number: 35915332676, IFS code SBIN0008616).