"Children of Lesser God get a Home"

By Pradip Mazumdar


In the village called , Chandra Sadhupara, every morning Uttam Rupini , wakes up six little children at six in the morning. For him, it is more than any emotional bondage that reflects his love for them , the six orphans , for the last four years. Gradually , the six orphans wake up , freshen up and start reading the school books till it's time to have bath, food and going to school. That is the story of the "Little Forest Heaven ", an orphanage near Champaknagar run by the Forest department of the government of Tripura. It has six little children including two girls .They are Phulurani Debbarma, Sumita Debbarma, Sukumar Debbarma, Bishu Debbarma, Budhu Kumar Debbarma and Ganesh Debbarma , all aged between nine and eleven. They have one thing in common .Their parents have all died leaving them to survive on their own without the help of any of their relatives. The Little Heaven took care of them. "Almost all of them had malnutrition when they were brought here," says George Jenner, DFO, Teliamura division. At two in the afternoon , they return from the school , have little rest and enjoy games with the equipments the government had provided . At dusk a tutor comes and they settle down with their home tasks and stories of the school. Uttam Rupini prepares their food . This is how  life runs for those tiny tots. They have no complaints as to what they have in their Little Heaven,four beds,two fans and two bulbs, as for dreams none have any barrier . It is said , if you are gifted with talent, it will reflect anyway. Sukumar Debbarma and Phulurani Debbarma stood first and third respectively in their school exams, says visibly proud Milan Bhattacharjee, the forester who looks after them as the forest department representatuve. When this reporter asked him , are you happy here , Sukumar nodded "Yes" . They had also shown their examination scripts and to the surprise and delight of us, all of them had good handwritings . On holidays , they are allowed to go to their friends house to watch TV accompanied by Uttam Rupini . Presently , forest department is spending Rs seven thousand per month for bringing them up . The money comes from seven Joint Forest Management Committes, said Jenner.The department also accepts donation from philanthropists , who feels the need for it . Jenner informs the reporters: the department also plans to open similar Little Heavens in other parts of the state , where children were rendered homeless mainly by ethnic riots . " But fund is the biggest problem ' he observes. "As the kids are growing up , we are now thinking to segregate the boys and the girls in different rooms , he says . " We may had to shift them to any orphanage in case we are unable to raise them up for lack of fund " he says. Milan Bhattacharjee says, he had already held talks with the Ram Krishna Mission so that the orphans could be moved out to them in future for better rehabilitation.