Geetanjali Nagpal

   

It is not every day that an attractive woman is spotted begging on Delhi's lecherous roads. But in September 2007, India's fashion fraternity was shocked when that was the sight that greeted it in south Delhi's upscale Hauz Khas Village area. No one could quite place this unkempt, shabby and yet beautiful woman. Photographer Somadula Barmula, shooting old Hindi film posters nearby, could not resist. He clicked and Hey Presto! She posed.

"She saw me clicking the posters and told me she is a model. I could not believe her, but since she was speaking fluent English, I thought there may be some truth in what she said. So I pointed my camera towards her and she gave me the best pose of my career,'' reveals the freelancer.

In doing so, Barmula discovered Geetanjali Nagpal, once a top model walking the ramp with the likes of Sushmita Sen, in a state of destitution.

"When people in my office saw the picture, they recognised Nagpal, and I rushed back to the spot with a reporter to find her in a gumbad (historical monument) where she was living," recalls Barmula.

Subsequently, Nagpal was supported by the Delhi Commission for Women and Metro Now, a city-based newspaper. She was brought to the Vidyasagar Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (VIMHANS) for rehabilitation. Ekta Alreja, the journalist who first reported the story, remembers: "We realised she needed medical help, and contacted her family. But they refused to take her responsibility. That’s when we approached the Delhi Commission for Women.''

Where is Nagpal now? Gunmeet Bindra, principal of the Vidya Devi Jindal School, where the former model was sent for the second stage of the rehabilitation programme, says she herself is on the look out. "She was taken to her aunt’s place in Haridwar. We do not know what happened after that. I know she wanted to meet her son,'' she recalls.

Her other associates are also clueless. When contacted, Dr Jitendra Nagpal of VIMHANS, who mentored her, said he has no knowledge of where she is now. "She had a strong desire to come back to mainstream society, and with her personality traits I am sure she will,'' he said.

While her whereabouts continue to remain hazy, she touched whoever she interacted with. After her chance discovery at Hauz Khas. Bindra remembers her fondly: "She is a very intelligent, affectionate and opinionated girl. With great sense of satisfaction I say that she understood her circumstances and was able to chalk out her route for the future.'' 

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