Singing sisters attempt suicide

A passion for singing and the craze to appear on a television reality show, made two sisters run away from their humble home in a village in Madhya Pradesh and come to Mumbai. Their dream soon turned sour on the city's harsh streets. Frustrated they tried ending their lives by jumping into the sea off the Fisherman's Warf at Mazgaon on Sunday evening. 

The two teenagers hailing from Chechai village who came to Mumbai with a meager amount of Rs 800 and loads of starry dreams were rescued after some passersby alerted the police. Both are recuperating in the ICU of the St. George Hospital.

"We thought that with the money we carried we would rent a house and also get a makeover done and then audition for the programme and stay here for three months till the competition gets over. But we had extremely bad experience in the city. For three hours we just walked trying to get some help but nobody is helpful here, when we asked people the way to apply for the competition they looked at us with bad intentions and even tried to touch us," said sixteen-year-old Ankita Jagdishprasad Chaturvedi, the younger sister from her hospital bed. 

In the opposite bed lies her sister, 18-year-old Archana. Ankita does all the talking and  says that they had taken the extreme step as after landing in Mumbai (that too for the first time) they weren't able to figure out the directions to their destination, ie the 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa' show on Zee TV. Added to this, they ran out of money and could not go back home. Hence, in sheer desperation, they decided to end their lives.

The duo passed the SSC and HSC board exams recently and wished to participate in the ongoing singing competition programme, which made them come down to Mumbai. Although avid fans of the musical show, Ankita and Archana, were not aware at all of its rules and regulations.

"I just want to go home and see my parents again. I will never come back to Mumbai," Ankita said.