Halima is a destitute from Latur in Maharashtra. Fatima of Tadepalligudem was abandoned by her mother. Both these Muslim girls found a father, mother and friend in Kamesa Maharshi, a saffron-robed Hindu monk who founded the Kamakshi Peetham and runs the Sri Kamakshi Prema Mandiram orphanage in Amalapuram.
While the Kamakshi peethadhipati feels that the two girls are no different from the others in his ashram, the girls have no qualms about offering pooja to Goddess Kamakshi. Both have achieved a unique religious syncretism, a rarity in these days of communal discord.
Halima was forced out of her house in Latur by her elder brother and his wife. She reached Podili in Prakasam district, where some miscreants tried to rape her. The trauma and tragedy left her mentally deranged. Kamesa Maharshi picked her up from Podili and with the permission of the officials, admitted her to his destitute home. ‘‘Initially, tending to Halima was a big problem. She could mutter only Marathi and often used to run away from the ashram. She used to even assault people and two-wheeler drivers,’’ recalls Kamesa Maharshi.
But patience, love and affection of Maharshi gradually transformed her. She has mellowed a lot. Now she takes lead in the daily chores at the ashram and guides the younger inmates. ‘‘She is now of marriageable age. I am looking for an alliance for her,’’ he says.
Fatima of Tadepalligudem was left behind by her mother in search of greener pastures in Kuwait. Initially, the mother used to speak to her over phone once in a while and later stopped contacting her altogether. Forsaken by her mother and relatives, Fatima landed in a bridge school for street children in Kakinada. ‘‘As the bridge school was about to be closed for want of funds, we contacted Kamesa Maharshi and admitted Fatima to his ashram,’’ says a social welfare official of Kakinada.
The destitute home has 35 girls and a few boys. The ashram is not just content with feeding and educating them. It is rehabilitating them and already some 15 girls were married off.
‘‘What we offer here is intense
love and a feeling that they are not orphanages. How can any one be an
orphan when Mother Goddess is there,’’ asks Kamesa Maharshi.