The second Devi Brahmacharini is incarnated in today’s Janani Sindhutai Sapkal.
On the second day of Navratri, here is a story of a Janani who became a mother to 1200 orphans thus lovingly called by them Aai..
I was called Chindi, the unwanted girl of the post Independence era. Though India had got freedom, the majority of the population was not freed from hunger and poverty. I was actually born to a cattle grazing family on 14 November 1948 and I share my birthday with the First Prime minister of India. Hardly did I imagined that one day my journey would lead me to become as favourite as Chacha Nehru with the young children. In my early childhood days, due to the extreme poverty, I had to face many challenges. It wasn’t easy for me to keep up with good health and getting education was a far fetched dream and my life was becoming darker by each passing day.
As a young Sindhutai, my hunger to learn more was omnipresent. My father was keen to educate me but my mother was in complete opposition to educate her unwanted daughter, hence my father used to send me to school under the pretext of cattle grazing, and I would use the ‘leaf of Bharadi Tree’ as a slate. Thus, I somehow managed to complete my education till Class 4th. Then even before I could experience adolescence, I was married off to a man of 30 years at a tender age of 10.
I knew nothing about being a bride, how to please a man or even about my desires. I understood that my freedom was gone forever and I was being crushed and chained to the shackles of child marriage. This was my journey of fate from Maharashtra’s Wardha district to settling in the Navargoan forest.
As a teenage girl, I was passionate towards helping the aggrieved and wronged women. Slowly, I strongly started opposing the exploitation of village women and fought on the collection of dried cow dung which was used as fuel in India and sold in collusion with the forest department. My agitation made the district collector to pass an order which was not liked by the egoistic village men. These landlords could not bear the insult done by a cow grazing poor girl and started influencing my husband to abandon me and throw me out of the village.
I still remember that unfortunate day when I was heavily (9 months) pregnant and my husband thrashed and kicked me on my belly and threw me in a cowshed. I screamed and yelled with pain but no one came forward. They left me tormented and tortured, my pain aggravated and I started loosing consciousness. I tried to hold myself falling apart, and in great agony I gave birth to a baby girl. The cowshed was filled with the first cry of baby wrapped in blood, I found a stone lying in the hay and managed to cut the umbilical cord with it. I held the baby to my chest and before I could feed her, I passed out. I named my daughter Mamta, the unconditional warmth of love.
I tried going back to my maternal home, but own mother refused to accept me and my daughter. With no family and parental support I was left to beg and sing in train compartments and on the streets.
With little money made from begging, I tried to make both ends meet for our survival. In the morning, the train station used to be our stage to perform and earn as I was blessed with natural flare for singing. And at night, to save and protect myself and my daughter from the wicked eyes, I started living at the crematory. Sometimes the hunger made me steal the food kept at the last rituals near the funeral pyre. Seeing me living in the crematory, people started calling me a ‘ghost woman’.
I was worried about my daughter, she deserved to live in good environment, so with heavy heart I entrusted her to Shrimant Dagaduseth Halwai Trust, So that she could be looked after properly. And I continued with my singing and begging. There was a constant tussle to survive, I kept travelling from one place to another till I found myself in Chikaldara, situated in the Amravati district of Maharashtra. Here I got a new mission, due to a tiger preservation project, almost hundreds of tribal villages were evacuated. I decided to fight for their proper rehabilitation and my efforts got acknowledgement from the Minister of Forests and an alternative relocation was given to the tribals.
The experiences of poverty, abjection and homelessness lead me to dozens of helpless orphans and women who were blatantly ignored by the society. My heart ached for my daughter and I could not see the injustice happening to these children. I started adopting these orphans and worked tirelessly and sometimes begged incessantly to feed them.
I was looking for place were I could give these children a definite shelter, and after years of hard work, I was able to raise my first Ashram at Chikaldara. My motherly love and affection for these children made me take them under my wings. I gave them food, shelter in best of my capacity. I didn’t realise when I became their mother, they all lovingly call me Maai.
Collecting funds for the Ashram was never easy, I had to travel many cities to raise money for my children. I made every child stay in the Ashram till he / she got a job and became independent. Till date, I have adopted and fostered over 1200 orphaned children. Seeing my children turning into successful lawyers and doctors is the great joy I can ever feel. My daughter Mamta and adopted children are taking forward my legacy by running their own orphanages. This journey entrusted me with 750 awards from various national and international bodies. Sometimes I have used the award money to buy land, to create shelter for my adopted children. Today, my children have their own building at Manjari in Pune district.
When I was 70, my husband came back to me apologetically. I accepted him as my child and proudly introduce him as the oldest child of the ashram. My journey still continues today after 40 years of continuous social work. I am a proud mother of more than 1200 orphaned children with 207 Sons-in-law and 36 daughters-in-law.
If I can be the Janani who can raise thousands of orphans as mine, you too can look after the children of this nation as yours.
In equality we will raise the world’s best generations to come.
Written by Anjusha Chaughule