About the Book

The face has been haunting me for years. Honestly, even today, after sixteen years, if I close my eyes, I can vividly see her face—hollowed eyes and sagging skin—mocking me. I failed to help her. She was completely famished and lost in her ramshackle bamboo shack, surrounded by waist-deep water. Apart from a few old soot-blackened utensils, a bed with a soiled patchwork quilt, a torn mosquito net, and a few dirty clothes hanging from hooks around the hut, it was absolutely empty. I had never imagined that anyone could be so poor and helpless. Something snapped inside me at that moment and eventually led me to start Seneh, a Home for Destitute Old Women. This was in 2011. Today, there are forty-five women who have found shelter and succour at Seneh. These are their stories. Often taken for granted, the elderly are left vulnerable to loneliness and cognitive decline. The cruelty of fate at times becomes unbearable for them. Group Captain Barua writes with empathy about their life stories, their socio-economic background, and their sorry predicament.

About the Author

Group Captain Atul Chandra Barua, VSM, 79, served in the Indian Air Force for thirty years till his voluntary retirement in 1999. He was an Aeronautical Engineer serving in different capacities in the front-line Air Bases of India. He earned many laurels while in service to the Nation. Post-retirement, his main thrust has been to help destitute old women find succour in the twilight years of their life through his organization. Seneh also provides free sanitary napkins to young school-going girls and food to wards of poor cancer patients. This is his first literary attempt in book form. He has written several articles on old-age care and other related subjects in English and vernacular-language newspapers and magazines.