‘Why should I return home now?’

Most of them had not been to a brick house in a very long time,let alone a five-star hotel.

The widows were brought to Kolkata by NGO Sulabh International to celebrate Durga Puja as part of a process under the Supreme Court’s directive to remove social stigma attached to their lives.

While the visit to the City of Joy could have been a homecoming of sorts for them,the women said they have nothing to do with their families.

When Lalita’s son met her after she landed at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International airport Sunday,she turned him away. The centenarian lady,whose family stays in Sheoraphuli in neighbouring Hooghly,said her two sons had abandoned her after she lost her husband many decades ago. “Why should I return now?,” she said.

Manu Ghosh said she cannot forget the trauma she was forced to undergo by her family after she was widowed.

“I got married when I was only 11 and was widowed at 25. I was then forced to leave my home and I took a train to Vrindavan,” Ghosh said.

During their weeklong stay,the women will be taken to various pleasure trips that include a river cruise on the Hooghly,a Metro ride and visits to various puja pandals. On Tuesday,some of the them will also inaugurate puja pandals in the city.

“Our aim was to provide some comfort to the widows who had been deprived of everything in life. In fact,we wanted to provide some magical moments when they forget about their distress,their gloom,so that they find a new meaning of life,’’ Bindweshwar Pathak,chairman,Sulabah International,told The Indian Express.

The widows will leave Kolkata on October 14.