As a toddler, Lalita is adopted by a Lucerne family. At the age of 39, she traveled to India for the first time. The report accompanies Livia Lalita Zgraggen's search for traces.
Author:
Christine Weber
An old man with white hair sits behind an old-fashioned reception desk. He lifts his head, his eyes behind the rimless glasses glimpse us. We say who we are and what we want. He looks a bit sullen, then shakes his head in the vague Indian way and picks up the phone. With a wave of his hand he signals to us to take a seat. We sit on a hard, cloth-covered wooden bench and wait.
It's quiet in the small room, the heat shimmers in front of the mosquito-screen windows. Somewhere a bird croaks, the hot air from the fan turns overhead. Along the wall are sacks of toys, boxes of washing powder, and other items; Presumably donations for the children here: It's 2 p.m., June 2018, and we are at St. Catherine's Home, an orphanage in a poor part of Mumbai (formerly Bombay).