West Bengal: Rickshaw-man breaks social norm, donates mom’s eyes

KOLKATA: A

rickshaw-puller from Dum Dum

, who has a family of four, could not afford to send his son to school beyond Class IV. Whatever little savings he has, is kept for his daughter’s wedding. But acute poverty and lack of formal education could not stop him from taking a step that many ‘well-educated’ people avoid. Going against his community’s superstitious ideas, Barun Chakraborty decided to donate his mother’s eyes.


Chakraborty’s mother Bela, a resident of Nalta, passed away on June 16. Her family had never thought of donating her organs before a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital spoke to them about it. “I was in two minds. We lived in an area where people did not approve of organ donation,” said Chakraborty. Confused, he took some time to talk to his neighbours about it.

“It was scary when I started discussing it with my neighbours. One of them said my mother will be born blind in her next life if her eyes were donated. Some said her spirit wouldn’t be able to leave and would harm us. We are not well educated and have to be careful of social norms. We became clueless after talking to them,” Chakraborty recounted.

He went back to the hospital with his concerns after his mother’s death and the doctor allayed his fears. “He told me all those concerns were baseless and it would make us feel good when two persons would be able to see through my mother’s eyes. I discussed it with my family and agreed to the proposal,” Chakraborty said. Doctors removed the eyes immediately after that.

“We lost our father at an early age and my mother had a tough time raising the six of us. We stayed in our maternal uncle’s place and our mother worked as a cook. We started doing odd jobs when we grew up. There was no scope for a formal education,” he said.

Bela would often go out of her way to help others, especially in medical emergencies. She would spend nights at hospitals after her daily job was over. That encouraged Chakraborty to take the decision to donate her eyes. “We never discussed eye donation with her. The area where we live, people are not expected to know about eye donation. But I felt that she would be happy if someone could see through her eyes,” he said, adding, “I have asked my children to donate my eyes when I am gone. It felt good.”

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