Anupama Nair
www.mediaeyenews.com
Padma Shri Sindhutai Sapkal was described by many as “the beacon of love, compassion and hope”. She was a mother who raised and cherished around 1500 orphans. She undertook a relentless mission to work for the underprivileged children improve their livelihood. Our beloved ‘Maai’ passed away on 4th January 2022, leaving many children orphans again. A significant part of India’s population is children and many of these children are abandoned by their parents and live to tell a tale of poverty, lack of education, sexual harassment and many such horrors.
Sindhutai Sapkal was born on 14th November 1948, and her world was similar to those children she saved. She was born in the Wardha district of Maharashtra. She was always considered unnecessary, because she was a girl and was nicknamed ‘Chindi’, which meant a torn cloth. However, the young Sindhutai’s had always aimed big and wanted to be successful in life. Her father wanted to educate her, but her mother opposed this. As a result, she only studied till Class 4 and at the blossoming age of 10, she was a child bride married off to a man of 30 years.
“Even after being crushed and chained by the shackles of child marriage, young Sindhutai never lost hope. Instead, her passion to the help the helpless and wronged only increased with time”. She started living in the Navargaon forest in Wardha after marriage, and she strongly opposed the exploitation of village women, who collected cow dung, by the Forest department and the Zamindars in 1972.However, she did not realize that her fight would change her life for the worse. Her trouble started with her pregnancy, and a rumor of infidelity was circulated by an angry landlord. Hence she was rejected by her community and then her husband abandoned her. She gave birth to her daughter Mamta on 14th October 1973 in a cowshed. Sindhutai went back to her maternal home, but there too she faced a rejection from her own mother. Feeling lost and betrayed, Sindhutai started singing and begging in trains and on the streets just to survive. She continued to fight for herself and her daughter’s existence and made train stations, cowsheds and cemeteries her home.
In the constant battle to survive, she found herself in Chikaldara, a place in the Amravati district of Maharashtra. Due to a tiger preservation project, 84 tribal villages were evacuated from their homeland. Troubles mounted when a project officer confiscated 132 cows belonging to Adivasi villagers and one of the cows died. Sindhutai decided to start her battle for a proper rehabilitation of the hapless tribal villagers and finally her efforts were acknowledged by the Minister of Forests and he made appropriate arrangements for alternative relocation.
“It was during these experiences of poverty, abjection and homelessness that Sindhutai came across dozens of helpless orphans and women who were blatantly ignored by the society”. She started adopting these orphans and worked and sometimes begged incessantly to feed them. To avoid partiality towards her biological daughter, Sindhutai sent her daughter to a trust in Pune. After many years of hard work, she made her first Ashram at Chikaldara. She travelled across villages and cities to raise money for her Ashrams. Even after many hurdles caused by lack of funds, Sindhutai never stopped. Till her death, she has adopted and fostered over 1200 orphaned children. They fondly call her ‘Maai’. Many of her adopted children are now lawyers and doctors. Today her own daughter and the adopted children are running orphanages of their own.
Sindhutai Sapkal had received around 270 awards from various national and international organizations. A Marathi film titled “Mee Sindhutai Sapkal” was also released as her biopic in 2010. She had founded numerous organizations across Maharashtra which provided education and shelter to thousands of orphans. Om Shanti Sindutai, I bow to you and your selfless service.
