Sindhutai Sapkal
Sindhutai Sapkal
A woman has the heart of a mother, a bigger one than that of a man
Sindhutai Sapkal, a Marathi woman, the mother to more than a thousand impoverished children, the living legend and one of the most courageous personalities in India, started her life journey from the streets.
Her nickname was ‘Chindi’ meaning ‘torn cloth’ in Marathi. She was named thus as an unwanted child. From being called a chindhi, to being mai, the mother of over thousand orphans, Sindhutai Sapkal’s life is the portrayal of a brave fight put up by a single woman against the cruel systems of the society.
She was born on 14 November 1948 at Pimpri Meghe village in Wardha district Maharashtra to Abhimanji Sathe, a cowherd by profession. Her father was keen on educating Sindhutai, much against the wishes of her mother. Abhimanji used to send her to school under the pretext of cattle grazing, where she would use 'leaf of Bharadi Tree' as a slate as she could not afford a real slate because of financial reasons. Abject poverty, family responsibilities and an early marriage forced her to quit formal education after she passed 4th grade.
| "If I wasn’t there for my baby, she would have met the same fate as rest of the abandoned children on the street. I know how it feels when you are left alone. So, when I came across children who needed help, I knew I must do something for them and I’m proud that I could be a mother to some of them." |
Sindhu tai 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 Sindhu tai.The taste of success was sweet, but it broke up her family.
She claims that an annoyed landlord, Damdaji Asatkar, spread the rumour that the child she was carrying was his. "My husband decided to abandon me," says Sindhutai. She was beaten up and dumped in a cow shed, where her daughter, Mamata, was born. "It was October 14, 1973," Sindhutai intones. "I cut the umbilical cord with a sharp-edged stone lying nearby." She landed up on a railway station and tried to commit suicide twice to end her gruesome life.
She later sought shelter at her parental home, but her mother did not accept her and instead told her to go and die on the railway line. Sindhutai wandered from town to town, singing and begging near temples. In Faijpur, Jalgaon district, she left Mamata in the care of a temple priest's family while she moved around singing bhajans. "Those were the days of soul-searching. I began feeling I must do something for those suffering like me." she said.
She later donated her biological child to the trust Shrimant Dagdu Sheth Halwai, Pune, only to eliminate the feeling of partiality between her daughter and the adopted ones.
After dealing with the abject poverty at her father’s home, experiencing neglected and painful life at husband’s home and finally leaving alone to live in the streets, Sindhutai decided not to give up and fight against the cruelty of male dominated society.
During the homelessness, she came across dozens of street children and orphans living pathetic lives. A day, she got up with a resolve to fight for them and give them a better and decent life. Her courage and determination encouraged others to come up with their helping hands. Soon, she was taking care of over a hundred orphans, and street children. Years passed by and the number increased but their happy faces kept steeling her determination.
As of 2012 Sindhutai Sapkal has nurtured about 1442 orphaned children. Sindhutai’s family includes 207 son-in-laws, 36 daughter-in-laws and over 1000 grandchildren and she has nurtured over 1000 orphans. She set up her first ashram at Mamta Bal Sadan, and now has five homes across Pune and Wardha. Mai is proud that many of her children have excelled in life and even become lawyers and doctors, and some including her biological daughter, have joined her cause and are also now running shelter homes. One of her child is doing PhD on her life. She uses all the money she receives through charity in buying land, constructing homes and providing education for children.
She came to the notice of the world after a Marathi film “Mee Sindhutai Sapkal” on her life and works was released in 2010. It was then that people came to know she had has been fighting against the patriarchal social order and showing people many creative ways to help the helpless.
Sindhutai Sapkal has been honored for several times, with over 250 awards for her contribution in improving orphans’ life and reshaping the social structure.
Sindhutai Sapkal deserves a grand salute for her perseverance and dedication to serve the humanity!
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