To Mai, The Mother of 1000 Orphans

Namaste Mai (Hello Mom),

I know you will not recognize me by name, and I also know that you won't even bother to know who I am. Because when the whole world calls you Mai, this situation will surely be not new to you.

Mai, I feel god himself wanted me to listen to you because he could not come to meet me and help me solve my problems. Else, it cannot be just a coincidence that your video flashed on my phone screen out while scrolling through YouTube, and I clicked on it without being interested in the topic.

From that day onwards, I considered you my mother. Whenever I was in trouble, a glimpse of your face was all I needed to gather the strength to face the world, and that is the case even to date.

I was going through a bad phase of life when I saw you in the video. Life was complicated and full of issues. I had no one to guide me on the right path. I was slowly getting sucked in the quick sinking mud of life, and my cries for help were falling on deaf ears.

I had become a loner. I lost all my friends, my family stopped talking to me, and my professional life took a hit. Everything was so dark, and I went into a deep depression.

Life felt heavy, as if I had all the problems in the world. I thought my life was the most challenging and, at one point, even considered suicide.

But then I listened to you and your life's struggle. That one interview changed everything for me.

It's natural to see something bigger than anything you have seen in life, and everything else starts to look smaller.

Whenever you see the height of Mt. Everest, all the other mountains look petty, which was the case with me. Listening to your struggle in life, I felt my problems were insignificant.

I still distinctly remember the story you narrated—a story of your fight with life, far more complex than mine. Yet, you came out a winner and inspired many like me.

For all the women in the world, you have personified the strength and power of a woman.

I remember you said you were beaten up and thrown out of your house by your husband when you were nine months pregnant with your fourth child just because someone raised a finger on your character.

You had to give birth to your daughter in a semi-conscious state in a cattle-shed with no humans but only cows around you. I can only imagine the pain you suffered when you had to self cut that umbilical cord with a stone. I don't know how you got that strength and maturity at the age of 20.

I was greatly inspired when you mentioned that you went and stood on the railway tracks with your daughter to commit suicide because you didn't have any food for your infant.

Only to change your decision at the last minute when you looked into those angel eyes which said, "why did you give birth to me if you only wanted to kill me in a few days."

Mai, you gave life to your daughter on that day, and your story gave life to this son today.

My eyes filled with tears when you said that you started begging on a railway platform by singing folk songs because you wanted to take care of not only your daughter but all the orphans who were abandoned by their parents and left to die on the streets. Only a mother's holy soul like yours can consider these orphans' plight who had no one to care about them.

Mai, I understand your smartness to stay in a creametorium at night to avoid any male advances and haressment as people are too scared to turn up there at night. But even the scene of a dark night in that place scares the hell out of me. From where did you get those nerves of steel to spend so many nights together with a kid in that scary place?

One more thing Mai, I respect your dedication to your cause. To donate your biological daughter to trust to ensure no partiality between your daughter and the adopted ones; I am not sure how many mothers can take that stand? But it just goes to show your dedication to a noble cause.

Mai, all your life, you have accepted and sheltered every orphan child that came your way. You still attend seminars and functions to get paid for your speeches so that there is no food shortage in those orphanage plates.

I know you won't be short of funds if you call once because the children you have raised have become successful in life and will be available to you on a single call. You may consider me to be one among the crowd even though you didn't raise me.

But I know your philosophy of self-reliance, and you never wait for someone to help you. You take your path because you consider that your passion is your own goal and should not depend on anyone else's actions.

Mai, you may not be my biological mother, but you have unknowingly given me a new life.

Had it not been for you, this self-proclaimed son of yours may never be alive to write this letter. I will always regard you as my mom because you have been there for me always; if not physically but virtually.

Thank you, Mai, for the thousands of sons and daughters you have raised. Thank you for taking care of those who never knew got the see their parents. Thank you for inspiring so many lives, and Thank you for saving my life.

Mai, A BIG THANK YOU!!!

Note From Author.

The letter is addressed to Sindhutai Sapkal. In India, she is famously known as "A Mother of Thousand Orphans."

Through her orphanages, she has given shelter to thousands of children on the streets of Maharashtra (a state in India)

She has won multiple awards and accolades, even some from the President of India. Still, even today, she attends seminars and functions as a motivational speaker to support these orphanages' funding.

We require more moms like her in this world.

Leave a heart if you like the story of the most inspiring woman in my life.

Life is Beautiful!!