Monday, October 26, 2009

Ganga and Jamuna – ‘’the Spider sisters‘’ refuse separation


PRADEEP K TIMALSINA
Ganga and Jamuna Mondal, 39, live with a very rare condition among conjoined twins — between them they have two heads, three legs and four arms.
Since childhood the sisters, from a small village in West Bengal, India, have performed at local fairs to large crowds eager to watch them crawl like an insect.
A new documentary from Discovery Channel shows the sisters perform for five hours during one of their travelling stage shows — they earn only $46 but it is enough to feed their extended family for a fortnight.
"People are drawn to us, they think we are strange," says Jammu in the documentary, titled My Shocking Story: Human Spider Sisters.
"Like you, we are human, and feel as normal as you do."
The sisters are the sole earners for their 22 extended family members, who all live under one roof.
The whole family pitches in to help them prepare for each show, which sees Ganga and Jamuna perform routine actions like brushing their teeth and applying face cream, before parading up and down in front of the crowds on their hands and legs.
The sisters are joined at the pelvis but each has a normal upper body and one functioning leg. Their other two legs are fused together into a single limb with nine toes.
Doctors have warned that separating the pair could be fatal.
But US conjoined twins expert Dr James Stein tests them in the TV documentary and says the pair could survive.
The sisters refuse, with Ganga saying: "The way God made us is the way we will live."

No comments:

Post a Comment