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Mother
of a Thousand Children
 She
arrives for the interview with two little children in tow. Settling her
large frame into the chair, 54-year-old Sindhutai Sapkal mops her face
with one end of her nine-yard saree, flashes a toothy smile and asks if
the children can get some milk. The three of them have been out
almost the entire day trying to mobilize resources and Mai (Mother), as
Sindhutai is popularly known, is tired. "These three months are bad as
schools and colleges have examinations followed by vacations and the money
I raise through lectures and donations from students and teachers dries
up. There are times when I cannot feed the children properly and therefore
whenever I go out with any children I ask for milk for them without any
hesitation," she says.
"When I was thrown out of my house I used to beg for a living. Even today
I move around with a begging bowl. The only difference is that in those
days I begged for myself but today I beg so that my children can be fed
and clothed," she adds. A daunting task, considering that she has over
1,000 children. It has been a long journey for this intrepid woman who
started begging on the Manmad-Aurangabad-Nanded railway track after she
was thrown out by her husband when she was just 21 years old. "I moved
around with my infant daughter. My mother told me to get lost. 'Go and die
on the railway line,' she told me," recalls Sindhutai.
Sindhutai wandered from town to town, singing and begging near temples. "I
sang on trains and spent my nights on railway platforms," she reminisces.
It is hard to imagine that this gutsy woman once contemplated suicide when
she could not feed her daughter. "I went to the forest bent upon ending my
life. But I returned with another determination: Not only will I live, but
I will also try my best to give life to others," she says.
Today she is the recipient of around 60 awards for social work including
the Savitribai Phule award from the Maharashtra government, the Satpal
Mittal Award and the Parivartan Award given by the Maharashtra-based
non-governmental organization, Parivartan. And yet she continues to beg
for others. Belonging to a family of cattle herders, poverty coupled with
social convention prevented Sindhutai from having access to education. She
would try to manage the herd and also attend school with great difficulty.
But marriage at 10 put an end to the fourth standard student's education.
The groom, Shrihari Sapkal, alias Harbaji, was over 30 years old.
Sindhutai created a sensation in Navargaon in 1972 when she demanded that
the forest department pay the village women for the cow dung they
collected. The department used to auction the dung to landlords and pocket
the cash. "We won the fight," says Sindhutai. But she lost her family. She
claims that an annoyed landlord, Damdaji Asatkar, spread the rumor that
the child she was carrying was his. "My husband simply abandoned me," says
Sindhutai. She was beaten up and dumped in a cow shed, where her daughter,
Mamata, was born. "This was in 1973. I cut the umbilical cord with a
sharp-edged stone lying nearby," she says.
Equipped with nothing but a determination to feed her child, Sindhutai
decided to beg. "I begged for almost three years during which time I
traveled to Delhi, Chandigarh and almost all over Maharashtra. I also
started singing to get more money and having a considerably good voice, I
would end up with more money which I would share with my fellow beggars. I
would eat and sleep on the roads," says she. And then she started
wandering from one town to another. "Those were the days of
soul-searching. I began feeling I must do something for those suffering
like me," she adds.
The idea was just taking root when she found herself in Chikhaldara in
Maharashtra's Amravati district. A section of the Melghat jungles on the
border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh had been earmarked for a tiger
project and she soon found herself fighting for the rights of the tribals.
With food and shelter given by others, Sindhutai then started looking
after orphaned and abandoned adivasi (tribal) children as a source of
livelihood. It didn't take long for this to become the mission of her
life.
Beginning with her first ashram at Chikhaldara which, she says, was "a
creation of necessity", her work acquired a momentum of its own. But even
as many abandoned/orphaned children were getting a mother, Sindhutai
decided to leave her own daughter Mamata with the Dagdushet Halwai Trust
in Pune. She had to take this hard decision because she felt that "having
my own child with me would hinder looking after other children as there
was a possibility that I would be partial to her".
Gradually the number of children grew and so did the number of centers.
There are now five centers in Maharashtra which have become home to over
1,000 children. The boys and girls are segregated after the 8th standard.
While the boys go to Gangadharbaba ashram, the girls are sent to the
girls' hostel at Chikhaldara. Besides these children the homes also house
about 25 abandoned women who have taken refuge with Sindhutai. These women
are provided food and shelter and in turn they help to look after the
children in the homes. Sindhutai proudly states that she has 36
daughters-in-law and 175 sons-in-law.
Deepak Gaikwad, the first child she took under her wing in the 1980s is
now helping her full time. In his 30s now, Deepak has taken charge of the
Mamata Bal Sadan from his Mai. There are others like Deepak, who support
their Mai in her work. Uttam Yevale, 27, who grew up at Mai's ashram at
Chikhaldara, is a college teacher in Ahmednagar. "She is like my mother.
In fact, she is my mother," he says. And taking care of the Pune centre is
Sindhutai's daughter Mamata. "She has a Masters degree in social work and
helps me. I was not with her during her growing years, but she has always
been there for me," says Sindhutai.
Her homes survive on donations and grants as well as the award money she
receives and she unabashedly continues to beg in cities and villages
asking people to put whatever they can into a cloth she spreads out on a
table after her speech. She is also invited to colleges and schools to
address students and she unhesitatingly asks for donations. This year has
been particularly tough because though the Savitribai Phule home runs on
government aid, Sindhutai's orphanage in Saswad has not received its grant
for the last two years from the cash-strapped Maharahstra government. And
to make matters worse, there is also an acute water shortage in the area.
Little wonder then that every interview with Sindhutai concludes with this
plea –
"Do write the address of my organization so that people can send any
contribution - financial or material." Donations can be made to:
Sanmati Bal Niketan, Meenakshi Building, Second Floor, Vihar Chowk,
Hadapsar, Pune.
– V. Radhika
June 5, 2002
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By arrangement with
Womens Feature Service
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