“A mother is clothed with strength and dignity, laughs without fear of the future. When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness.”
In a world full of strangers, there is only a mother who can devote her whole life to bringing up a child with selflessness, pure love, and generosity. We are grateful to grow up with a mother’s love, being cared and growing up with her, but not all children are blessed with this divine blessing.
But there is always a way- because in this world, God never leaves us alone; he sends help from somewhere or the other.
And just like that, there is a story of a woman who contributed her life to abandoned children and has adopted more than 1400 children till now. I am talking about Sindhutai Sapkal, who has been a humane mother for all the abandoned children who had been left alone on the streets and forced to beg. She has adopted more than 1,400 orphaned children so far, including 1,050 orphans, 207 sons-in-law, and 36 daughters-in-law. She gave her whole life to be a mother and gave love to all the kids, which she never received in her childhood from her mother.
Who is Sindhutai Sapkal, and what was her early life?
Sindhu Tai Sapkal was born on the 14th of November 1948, in Pimpri village in Wardha district of Maharashtra. She belonged to a cattle-grazing family. She has always been an unwanted child and judged by her gender. Tai never received love and sympathy from her mother. Her mother never wanted her to be educated, but her father was always keen to educate her. tai only studied till her 4th grade and was forced to be married at an early age, when she was 12.
Sindhutai was married to a man who was twenty years older than her. She somehow escaped the cattle family but was thrown into a more tragic time in her life. She was often beaten by her husband and never respected by him. Her husband, Harbaji, was a cowherd from Navargaon village in Wardha District. Later on, she bore 3 sons to him by the time she turned 20.
A Rough Phase For Sindhutai
The most haunted time of her life was when she was twenty years and nine months pregnant, she was beaten badly by her husband and left alone to die on the empty streets at night. When she gave birth to a beautiful daughter named Mamta, she was sheltered by a cow in the cowshed. She returned to her maternal home for help, but to her shock, her mother refused to accept her. She somehow survived and kept hope to live for her daughter.
Living In A Cemetery And Begging To Survive
Tai lived on train stations, begged, and sang for her daughter to survive. She earned a living singing and giving services in temples. She used to beg all day but never eat alone. Sindhu Tai shared her food with beggars and kids who also beg there on the railway stations. She spent her life with beggars and often in the cemeteries because she feared being picked up by men at night.
Beginning Of Her Journey
She saw many abandoned children in this stage of her life and felt the same pain of being abandoned. Her first adopted child was Deepak, whom she adopted from the railway station. And this is how her journey started. It became a mission of her life to be a Maai (mother) of orphaned and abandoned kids. She has taken in many children, fed them, and cared for them as her own children.
Sindhutai’s legacy
She opened her first NGO, “Savitri Bai Phule Girls Hostel,” registered in Chikaldara. And gradually expand it even more. She took in more orphaned children and sheltered them. Now, many of them are serving as doctors, lawyers, teachers, and even professors. Some of them are now running their own independent orphans. One of her children is doing a PhD on her life. She also opened a cow shelter named “Gopika Gai Rakhsan Kendra” to save old cows that are sent to the slaughterhouses. She brought them to her shelter and cared for them.
Recognition, Award-winning movie
Sindhutai struggled throughout her life and devoted herself to caring for children. Tai used all her donated money to buy land and build a home for orphans and provided all the best facilities she could. She has been awarded more than 750 awards, which include “iconic mother”, “the mind of steel in 2010, and the Mother Teresa award in 2013 for being the mother of abandoned children. She also received this prestigious award, “Nari Shakti Purushakar” by President Ram Nath Kovind on International Women’s Day in 2018.
A movie released on Tai’s inspirational story, “Mee Sindhutai Sapkal”, in the year 2010. It won several national awards and was selected for the 54th London Film Festival.
Forgiveness and generosity
When her husband came and asked for her forgiveness, she decided to forget and forgive, but only accepted him as her son. “Because now she can only be a mother of all,” she said. She also called him her oldest son.
And gave all her accumulated money to feed orphans and for their well-being. Most of them stayed until their marriage and education, and some students stayed there all the way through their PhD as well.
The Final Journey- In Loving Memory
She died on 4th January 2022 from a heart attack in a private hospital in Pune. But her tenderness, kindness, and hard work are still cherished by all. Sindhutai was a selfless and
warm-hearted woman who devoted all her life to those children who once craved the affection of love and care from a mother, and she was the one who decided to shelter them and look after them. The gentleness of her remains. She was the mother who never gave up, who decided to live not only for her daughter but for all the daughters and sons who seek home and family.
The only motive of her life was to “Educate all the abandoned children and never let them beg.” Her orphan is now carried forward by her daughter, Mamta, and her son, Deepak.
‘The mother of 1,400 orphan children’ will always be recalled in the hearts of people and by the children she cared for. Tai’s story is not only the story of a woman, but to all the women and mothers out there who still choose silence over their own rights. Her story not only inspired but also gave strength to the women to speak and never give back in life.
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