Abandoned by parents, four girls now living happily as daughters of Keralite couple

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: P.A. Thomas and his wife Neena were on a journey to Mumbai from Kottayam in 2019. Not being frequent travellers, or knowing intricacies of train travel, they did not get a reservation. They ended up travelling, in a general compartment, to Pune, from where they planned to go to Mumbai. But at Pune, their life changed.

On reaching Pune, they could not board a connecting train, as the general bogies were crowded with people even standing on the footboards. They let that train go and waited in the railway station for the next. By that time, dusk had set in and the couple decided to spend the time in the railway station only rather than take a room in an unknown city.

Passing the hours at the station, they noticed four girls, all cuddled together, at one corner without any adult. Thomas went to them and bought them juices, biscuits, and snacks and became close to them. The four were siblings, with the eldest seven years of age and the youngest four, while the two in between were twins and aged six.

On enquiry, the couple found that their parents had abandoned them at the railway station, and the children had been there for two days without proper food. At this, Thomas and Neena decided that God wanted them to take care of the children.

Thomas recalled: "It was indeed love at first sight. All four were frightened and were beyond consolation. I and Neena decided that we will take the children back home and called up a friend of ours who was in Pune. He knew the language and together we went to the police station and got a one-month temporary adoption papers."

Thomas and Neena returned back to their parental home at Kottayam with the four new guests but encountered difficulties. Family and friends did not much appreciate their gesture and soon after differences cropped up in the extended family, and Thomas had to move out to rented accommodation.

While Thomas was working as the public relations officer of the hospital development committee at Kottayam Government Medical College and Hospital, Neena also secured a job in a private college as office staff.

Meanwhile, Thomas was religiously pursuing the legal papers for adoption of the children and the adoption process which commenced in 2019 with a temporary adoption certificate was completed in July 2022 and the four children are now the legal daughters of Thomas and Neena.

Among the children, nine-year-old Eira Elsa Thomas is the eldest who can speak a little bit of broken Hindi but is fluent in Malayalam. Next comes the eight-year-old twins, Antria Ross Thomas and Elain Sara Thomas. The youngest is the six-year-old Alexandria Sara Thomas.

In between, Neena gave birth to a daughter who had congenital heart disease and passed away soon and Thomas said that the love and care of the four daughters took them through those hard days.

Thomas has now bought a little piece of land and constructed a new home and all the four girls are studying in an English medium school near to the home at Puthupally.

"Life is moving on. We are happy and now slowly the family and friends understood our seriousness and our love towards the girls and we are being recognised. It is indeed the decision of God and we are carrying out his wish." (IANS)

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