"I lost both my parents at a very early age, but with encouragement from friends I managed to graduate from Pune University on merit and worked my way up to become an editor with a Marathi magazine called Grihalakshmi. It shut down a few years back," she told SUNDAY MiD DAY.
On current valuation, she would have been a millionaire many times over. During the early 1980s, in the prime of her career, she bought two apartments in the plush Jayant apartments in Worli.
"In 1984, I sold my bungalow for Rs. 6 lakhs. In 2007, I sold both my flats in Worli, along with my two cars -- a Hyundai Accent and an Indica. I received Rs. 80 lakh in the deal and moved in to a leased bungalow in Thane.
But soon I realised that my funds were drying up mysteriously. So I came to Versova, looking for a cheaper flat on rent but finally ended up on the footpath, living off the charity of the gurudwara, " Naik said.
The senior citizen says she has no idea how her bank balance shrunk or if anyone, is behind the crime.
"I have no clue about it. Maybe my ex-employee Kamal Raikar knows as she used to operate my bank accounts. She also looked after me for the past 15 years. But I have no way of contacting her, as I have lost all my contacts after my mobile phone got drenched in the rain," she said, pointing to her cell phone, which has water floating in the screen.
"I am educated and speak five languages, so I don't mind getting a job and starting my life afresh," she said, refusing any kind of financial help offered to her by this correspondent.
She admitted that she had received offers from friends and strangers to accommodate her, but most of them had asked her to get rid of the dog, who is unwell and flea ridden. But Naik is unwilling to dump someone who has been loyal to her for 12 years.
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