Author:
Publication: The New Indian Express
Date: November 21, 2003
URL: http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IEA20031120125823&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Andhra+Pradesh&Topic=0
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.
