Gujarati hospitality nursed Geeta for 13 years in Pakistan

AHMEDABAD: It was a Gujarati's hospitality that sustained deaf and mute Geeta in Pakistan for 13 years. Geeta, who landed in India on Monday hoping to be reunited with her family, was sheltered by Edhi Foundation founded by a Gujarati Memon, Abdul Sattar Edhi.

Edhi had migrated to Pakistan as a 19-year-old in 1947 from Bantwa, a tiny hamlet in Junagadh district in Gujarat. Over the years, Edhi has been feted for his prolific social work. Edhi Foundation runs the largest fleet of ambulances, orphanages and welfare centres across Pakistan to alleviate human sufferings, earning him the moniker of a 'living saint'.

"Geeta had come to us some 13 years ago. Over the years, she became part of the family. We are happy that she will be reunited with her family but feel sad she has gone," Faisal Edhi, Edhi's son, told TOI over phone from Karachi.

Faisal said they realised Geeta might be a Hindu as she refused to touch non-vegetarian food. She was then shown pictures of Hindu deities which she recognised. "Geeta would often cry remembering her family," said Faisal, whose mother Bilquis and wife, Saba, accompanied Geeta on her journey back home.

Senior Edhi (88), who can still speak Gujarati fluently, said, "I have never returned to Gujarat. Now I am too old but son Faisal has a burning desire to visit his roots in Bantva in Gujarat." Currently, there are 50-odd Muslim families living in Bantva, of which five are Memons.