“I want to go to school”!!!
She expressed her heart’s desire,
Her eager eyes sparkling.
But she was given the chore
Of grazing the buffaloes.
At her tender age,
It mowed down her hopes.
‘Chindhi’, she was called,
A torn piece of cloth !!!

At age ten,
The disaster struck
For she was condemned to tie the knot
To a man “just 30 years old”.
But as a young woman, she was bold
For she fought like a warrior
For the victimized tribal women folk
The landlords conspired
And alleged her infidel
Her man beat her up
And kicked her now swollen belly
And dragged her bruised body
to the cowshed and left her there
to be trampled by the cattle
She gave birth to their child
Under a cow, a God-send Godmother
To an all abandoned soul.
Her hand grabbed a stone
To stash the umbilical cord.
With a bleeding body
And an aching heart
She dragged herself away
From the hell-hole.
There were no doors to knock now
For all were closed long ago.
The beating heart in her arms
Stopped all thoughts to end her life
She begged her days to fill their bellies
And had her home amidst the tombstones
In the cemetery.
On days she got no alms
She gathered the flour strewn around corpses
The funeral ritual offerings
To make rotis on the burning pyres
Days of dismay and despair,
Haunted her on and on
Like ghosts of sorrow
They travelled with her like a shadow.
But soon her eyes caught sight of kids
Orphaned and lost
Abandoned or cast away
Her nurturing compassion
Compelling her to provide for them
And give them a home.
Her will to live now grew
To own the disowned,
Little knowing, it was her divine calling.
“Mai”, they called her.
The slowly awakened society
Now offered them a shelter home.
Before the flowing compassion
None was again disowned…

Years later ,
As she stood in the spotlight
Honored for her philanthropic pursuits,
All she had was tears in her eyes
And loving warmth in her heart
For all the souls she mothered
And cared for
who would have perished and died unknown….

.    .    .