Nepal insults tallest woman
Kathmandu, Nov. 27: He is hailed as a Little Buddha and draws amazed crowds wherever he goes. While the Himalayan nation celebrates Khagendra Thapa Magar’s world record as the shortest man at 22 inches, the story of Urmila Chaudhary, the tallest teen in the country, is that of discrimination and suffering.
Though the same age as Khagendra who has been named Nepal’s ambassador to promote tourism, 18-year-old Urmila stands at seven feet three inches, evoking gawking and unkind remarks wherever she goes.
“Who will marry this giraffe of a girl,” is the common response she faces in her village.
While Khagendra, who was officially recognised as the world’s shortest man by the Guinness Book of Records last month and is looking forward to new honours in 2011, to be celebrated as Tourism Year, Urmila is struggling for life in Kathmandu’s Miteri Hospital.
Two hospital beds have been clubbed together to accommodate the teen, who tried to kill herself after she flunked the school-leaving examination, dubbed Nepal’s Iron Gate because of the high incidence of failure.
Her father died when she was young and her mother, Chandra, and brother Arjun, eke out a meagre livelihood collecting firewood and selling it to villagers in Siraha in southern Nepal.
The girl was driven to try to take her own life after she became an object of derision in her village where she was regarded as a monstrosity.
Urmila suffered from an excessive secretion of growth hormones, which caused her unusual growth, says Janu Khadka, a doctor at the hospital.
Now, though she survived the suicide bid, she has been diagnosed with diabetes and tumour, driving her family to the verge of desperation.
“We need nearly Nepalese Rs 2,00,000 for an operation to remove the tumour,” Arjun said.
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