Lakshmi Back in the News - Update

The sweet little girl with the sunny dispostion and sunshine smile is back in the news. There is an update on her progress since the surgery she had in November to remove her extra limbs - and several photos. From The Telegraph.co.uk Eight-limbed girl 'will always be a Goddess' By Megan Levy Last Updated: 8:43am GMT 19/02/2008 Lakshmi's dad says: For as long as she is alive, until my dying day, I will believe she is the goddess.

When she was born, the inhabitants of her village believed she was a gift from God and christened her Lakshmi, after the four-armed Hindu goddess of wealth.

However, her mother, Poonam, and father, Shambu Tatma, both in their twenties and earning about 50p a day as casual labourers, rejected the opportunity to exhibit her to pilgrims as a lucky charm and instead sought treatment.

Tomorrow's programme [a documetary] examines Indian attitudes to disability and the difficulties faced by the rural poor in overcoming deeply help superstitious beliefs.

"What mustn't happen is that Lakshmi is taken away and sold to a circus," the leader of Lakshmi’s village elders told the documentary's makers. "She could have been exhibited like a freak here and earned us a fortune but we never wanted to do that and neither did the parents."

Entire article.