Danish citizen's search for biological parents in TN brings back saga of child trafficking

HIGHLIGHTS

Mark Madappan Nielsen, 45, underwent nightmarish experiences before he found a home and benevolent parents in Denmark

The family has come to Madurai on one-year visa to narrow down their search around Coimbatore and Trichy

Mark Madappan NielsenMark Madappan Nielsen

MADURAI: At the age of 45, Mark Madappan Nielsen has seen the world enough and witnessed both good and evil. A Danish citizen, Mark now is searching for his biological parents after he was given in adoption to a family in Denmark by an illegal orphanage in Delhi.

Mark, a victim of child trafficking, has undergone nightmarish experiences as seen in movies before he found a home and benevolent parents in Denmark.

In 1979, Mark, then Madappan - he is not sure if it was his actual name - walked out of his home to meet his elder siblings living in Coimbatore. (Mark doesn't remember why his siblings were living in Coimbatore.)

The seven-year-old boy collected some money after selling the cowdung cakes his mother had given to sell and boarded a bus with that money in hand. The conductor dropped him at an unknown place when the boy didn't have any more money to extend his travel.

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The boy decided to walk. Starving for four days, he ended up at a theatre entrance where a shopkeeper promised to give him food if he swept the place. "While sweeping, I found a currency note and clutched on to it. When he found the currency note in my hand, the vendor chased me away. Hungry and thirsty, I resumed walking when a car stopped near me," Mark recalls the incident.

The boy was given a lift by an old man in the car promising to take him to his siblings and offered him a drink, probably a pineapple juice. The boy fainted after drinking it.

Next day, he woke up in a dark room totally disoriented. He was drugged again and shifted to Delhi.

Once in Delhi, Mark was thoroughly tutored in English and Hindi, preparing him to face the formalities required for adoption to foreign countries.

He was locked up in a small room with two other boys. Life was a hell for the boys. A corner of the room was set aside for toilet. "The stench was intolerable. We used to be offered a handful of food. We were beaten up when we protested," Mark says. Those sufferings give him nightmares even today, he says.

The traffickers were particular that no child escaped. One of the boys managed to escape from the room. But he was caught soon and beaten up black and blue in front of the other two, sending out a message that the same would happen if they attempted to escape.

Mark left India on June 1, 1980 adopted by Tommy Nielsen and Lisbeth from Denmark. The couple were not aware that most of the papers on adoption were fake.

The Nielsens were kind parents and ensured that Mark got a bright future. He grew up to become a captain of a ship and retired some years ago.

In 2009, Mark decided to search for his biological parents after coming across a programme for missing children in Denmark. In heart, he knew his case was not wilful giving away for adoption but a case of kidnapping and his biological parents would have undergone a lot of sufferings looking for him.

He traced the place in Delhi where the orphanage was located. It was closed but there he met an old woman who took care of the children in the orphanage. She told Mark that he should be from Coimbatore and guided him to a lawyer who called the shots in the orphanage.

"The lawyer is a very affluent man in Delhi now, with armed guards in his house. After prolonged efforts, I could meet him. But all he said was that I am from Coimbatore area," Mark says.

Mark's childhood memories have been overwhelmed by the bitter days he had spent in that orphanage and the memories of home or parents are quite vague. All he recalls now is a big river, two huge pillars on the banks, seven mud-walled huts on one side of the river. Taking cue that it could be banks of River Cauvery, he searched in length. But a lot has changed over the time including landscape.

During his eight years of search for his parents and siblings, Mark found a life-partner in Madurai. They have a six-year-old daughter. The family has come to Madurai on one-year visa to narrow down their search around Coimbatore and Trichy.

Recently Mark and his wife met an astrologer who predicted he could be from Trichy region because of the presence of the river. "His story has appeared on a couple of TV channels and online. There were some responses. But we could not find the genuine responses yet," Mark's wife says.

After harrowing experiences as a child, Mark's future was in secure hands because of the Nielsens but things are not always rosy for many of children who are given in adoption during that period.

"About the other two of my companions in the orphanage -- one died after becoming a drug addict and the other is in prison. They did not receive much care from the families which adopted them," Mark says.

TOP COMMENT

Be grateful to ur adopted parents and God will help you find your biological parents.

Jhand Bahadur

Mark's family has decided to go to Denmark to celebrate Christmas with the Nielsens. They will return to Madurai in January and resume their search.

"I want to see my family. I hope that I will meet my siblings and pray that my search will not go in vain," Mark says.

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