World | India
Girl wants to join police after family slain in blast
She once wanted to be a dancer but now 12-year-old Manisha Michael aspires to be a police officer who can take on terrorists.
- IANS
- Published: 23:31 October 28, 2008
New Delhi: She once wanted to be a dancer but now 12-year-old Manisha Michael aspires to be a police officer who can take on terrorists.
For it was a terror blast in the Indian capital three years ago, right before Diwali, that wiped out her father, mother and brother.
"I want to become an Indian Police Service officer so that I can understand what terrorism is and how people become terrorists. I will also arrest terrorists who have destroyed the lives of innocent people," Manisha said.
The Class 6 student lives with her grandparents in a flat at Dilshad Garden in northeast Delhi. Little does she know that in the absence of the main breadwinner - her father Michael - life has become difficult for the family.
Michael, Manisha's mother Sunita and brother Alvin were shopping in the Sarojini Nagar market when a blast - one of three that ripped through the national capital on October 29, 2005, killing at least 65 people - snuffed out their lives.
She still finds solace in music and Kathak dance. She also spends a lot of time with her dog and her birds. "I have more than 20 birds," she said. Her grandparents say she is so attached to animals that whenever she goes out she starts playing with all the street dogs - and once even wanted to adopt an elephant.
But girl her age scarcely knows the problems the family faces.
Body not found
"We have put the compensation of Rs750,000 [Dh62,500] that we received for the death of Sunita and Alvin as fixed deposit in the bank for Manisha. But there are a lot of expenses for which money is needed. The government didn't give us compensation for Michael as his body was never found," said Manisha's grandfather Bhagwan Dass, a retired employee of Indian Airlines.
The family is now surviving on the interest earned on the money that Bhagwan Dass received after retiring from his job and deposited in a bank.
Manisha's grandmother Saleena Dass accused the government of insensitivity. "I went to [Chief Minister] Sheila Dikshit's office but she kept me waiting outside for over four hours, after which she just acknowledged my grievance letter and didn't even talk to me. But so far no one has contacted me - this is despicable!" said Saleena Dass.
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