No Food, No Family, No Help—But She Became a Mother to Thousands !

When Mamata Sapakal recounts the harrowing circumstances of her birth, her voice carries both sorrow and pride. Her mother, Sindhutai Sapakal, was abandoned by her family during her ninth month of pregnancy. Left on the roadside, labour pains triggered by emotional trauma set in. With no one to help and no medical tools in sight, she used a sharp stone to cut the umbilical cord after giving birth.

This brutal beginning did not harden Sindhutai. Instead, it ignited a fire within her to spread unconditional love. Over time, she became known as the "Mother of Orphans." Though she gave birth to four children, she went on to nurture thousands of abandoned and orphaned children through her orphanage in Pune, established in 1998.

Even after her passing in 2022, Sindhutai’s influence remains strong, carried forward by her daughter Mamata. Her legacy is not just measured by the number of lives she touched, but by the depth of compassion she infused into each one.

Mamata spent most of her early years in a hostel. When she returned home, it was to the sanstha where she and her mother lived after being rejected by their extended family. She recalls how dozens of children affectionately called Sindhutai "maai" (mother). "I accepted it as destiny. It felt natural, like it was meant to be," Mamata reflects.

Sindhutai’s childhood offered little comfort. Her formal education ended at Class 4, and she would split her day between school and herding cattle. At just 12 years old, she was married off. After giving birth to three children, she became pregnant with Mamata. Around this time, she raised her voice against the unfair pay for women collecting cow dung. Her activism angered local contractors, who retaliated by questioning her character and the paternity of her unborn child. Eventually, her family turned their back on her, abandoning her on a road to die.

Everyone assumed she had perished. But she survived, her newborn clinging to her. She began begging to sustain herself and her child. Later in life, she often pointed to that moment—alone, destitute, and determined—as the catalyst for her mission.

Her struggles didn’t end there. In one haunting memory, she scavenged flour left behind during a cremation ceremony, cooked a bhakari on the still-burning pyre, and ate. Yet, these grim experiences only deepened her empathy.

Whenever she saw a child begging, her instinct was to bring them under her wing. Her mantra was simple: to offer every child what she herself had been denied—love, dignity, and opportunity. She lived by these ideals and instilled them in those she cared for.

Among the many children she raised was Manjusha Gopal Gaikwad. Today, Manjusha serves as the sarpanch (village head) of Kumbharvalan in Pune. Her journey has come full circle. As a child, she often heard Sindhutai speak about how the village supported the orphanage. "When food ran out, the villagers helped. Now, as sarpanch, I have a duty to give back," Manjusha says. She leads women’s self-help groups as a tribute to Sindhutai’s teachings.

"Of course I miss maai," she adds. "But her spirit lives in the work we do. She taught us to celebrate others’ happiness."

Mamata remembers how her mother’s love showed in small, caring gestures. She would bathe the infants with such tenderness that they would fall asleep right after. When children fell ill, she rubbed balm on their heads and sewed clothes for them herself. Her motherliness radiated from her saris, her hands, her hugs—it was woven into the very fabric of her life.

Pain never deterred Sindhutai from going the extra mile for her children. It fueled her mission. Inspired by her mother’s journey, Mamata pursued a master’s degree in social work and joined the foundation full-time.

The impact of the foundation is profound. Beyond basic needs, it instills values and purpose. Manjusha, who was left at the sanstha by her grandfather in Class 6, remembers how Sindhutai became the mother she never had. Coming from a home where even food was scarce, and where a girl’s education was seen as a burden, she found dignity and dreams at the sanstha.

The foundation has grown to include several branches. ’Sanmati Bal Niketan’, started in 1998, offers food, shelter, clothing, education, and rehabilitation to underprivileged children. ’Gopika Gai Rakshan Kendra’, established in Wardha in 2007, is dedicated to the care of abandoned cows. And ’Tirtharup Educational Residential Center’, launched in 2017, acts as a safe space for children displaced due to neglect, abandonment, or family trauma.

What keeps this mission alive is the unshakable belief in hope that Sindhutai embodied. Mamata says her mother never acted like she was doing something extraordinary. "For a long time, I thought this was how every home functioned," she admits.

This wasn’t just a shelter. As Mamata puts it, "Yaha rishte bante hai"—here, relationships are formed. And that, more than anything, defines Sindhutai Sapakal’s enduring legacy.