Pune: This is the story of a sexagenarian popularly known as Mai.
There are innumerable sources of inspiration in the world but, sans even an iota of doubt, Sindhutai Sapkal ranks high among them and reading about her is guaranteed to moisten your eyes.
The social activist has to her credit giving homes to in excess of 1,400 orphans.
It takes guts to look after children when you don’t have enough to even feed yourself.
Born on November 14, 1948 in Wardha District’s Pimpri Meghe village to cowherd Abhimanji Sathe, she was tagged as the unwanted child and nicknamed Chindhi, which means “torn piece of cloth”. Her mother did not want her to be educated though her father was willing.
After passing the fourth standard, she was married at the age of 10 to Shrihari Sapkal who was a couple of decades older and a herder from another village in the district. By age 20, Sindhutai had three sons.
In the village lived a strongman who collected dung from locals and sold it to the Forest Department without paying a paisa to the residents.
The dung was used as fuel. After Sindhutai raised her voice against the injustice, the Collector passed an order that was disliked by the strongman who -- with a revenge motive -- convinced Sindhutai’s husband to abandon her though she was in the family way. She gave birth to a girl all by herself within a cattle shed outside their dwelling. “I severed the umbilical cord with a stone lying nearby,” she recalls. Later, she walked a few kilometres to her mother’s abode but was denied shelter…
Sindhutai’s life became synonymous with hell and she even contemplated ending her very existence. The woman began leading a mendicant’s life and begged on railway platforms for food so that she and her daughter could survive.
At that time she realised that there are several children abandoned by their parents. She adopted such kids and decided to become a mother to any orphan.
Sindhutai told this correspondent that, with more minors to feed, she started to beg more intensely; her communication skills were good and she managed to influence people. Sindhutai even donated her daughter to a halwai here…
Cut to the present.
Her ‘family’ includes 207 sons-in-law, 36 daughters-in-law and over 1,000 grandchildren. Many of the kids she took under her wing are now engineers, physicians or lawyers, and some – including her biological daughter – are managing independent orphanages. Her dedication did not go unsung. Ananth Narayan Mahadevan directed the much-acclaimed biopic ‘Mee Sindhutai Sapkal’.
The cash component of her awards is being utilised to construct a home for children. Sanmati Bal Niketan – coming up in Hadapsar suburb – shall house over 700 minors.