14 November is celebrated as a Children Day to increase awareness of the rights, care and education of children as a tribute to First Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
But today is post about –‘Mother of Orphans’.
For her unmatched self-less service, she was conferred the 'Padma Shri' in 2021. (another reason why Padma Awards are called People Awards.)
Sindhutai Sapkal, has been raising orphan kids for last four decades in Maharashtra. So far Mai (foundly called Mai – Mother), has raised over 1500+ orphans.
She has a grand family of 382 sons-in-law, 49 daughters-in-law, and over a thousand grandchildren. Today, many of them are well-educated lawyers and doctors. Some of her children / grand children are running their own orphanages.
One of her children is doing a PhD on her life. She has been honored with more than 1000 National and International awards for her dedication and work. She used award money to buy land to make a home for orphaned children. Popularly referred to as “Mai”, Sapkal runs an orphanage – ‘Sanmati Bal Niketan Sanstha’ – in Hadapsar, Pune.
Mai was born on November 14, 1948 in a cattle grazing family in Wardha district in Maharashtra. Being an unwanted child, she was referred to as Chindhi (Marathi for ‘torn piece of cloth’). Abject poverty, family responsibilities and an early marriage forced her to quit formal education.
At the age of 10, Mai was married to a 30 years old man. She bore 3 sons by the time she turned twenty. At the young age of 20, when nine-months pregnant, Mai was beaten and left to die by her husband. She gave birth to a baby girl in a semi-conscious state in a cow shelter outside their house on the night of October 14, 1973.
Mai took to begging on the streets and railway platforms to survive. As she feared being picked up by men at night, she often spent the night at cemeteries. People called her a ghost since she was seen at night in the cemeteries.
Mai later found herself in Chikhaldara, where she started begging on railway platforms for food. In the process, she realized that there were many children abandoned by their parents and she adopted them as her own. She then begged more vigorously to feed them.
She decided to become a mother to everyone who came across to her as an orphan. She later donated her biological child to the trust Shrimant Dagdu Sheth Halwai, Pune, to eliminate the feeling of partiality between her biological child and the adopted children.
Mai fought for the rehabilitation of 84 villages. In the course of her agitation, she met Chhedilal Gupta, Minister of Forests of that time. He agreed that the villagers should not be displaced before the government had made appropriate arrangements at alternative sites. Mai also took care of these displaced & abandoned children in return for meager qty of food.
Thereafter, it become the mission of her life.
Join us on www.multimediastudio.net to wish Happy Birthday to 'Mai Sindhutai Sapkal'.
Comments