Abandoned by society and ignored by the state, widows of Vrindavan find a home of solace at last
The idea behind the project, says Meera Khanna, honorary secretary of the Guild, "was not to make the widows mere recipients of doles, but architects of their own destiny". The home provides six-month auxiliary nursing training after which many of the inmates are employed as nursing aides. Generating cottage industry skills for the old widows, healthcare, literacy and a secure environment have laid the path for their economic and social empowerment.
The Guild of Service has now embarked on a new project—Ma Dham, or refuge for mothers, to house 500 destitute women in Vrindavan. Apart from providing basic amenities like food and shelter, Ma Dham aims at capacity-building programmes and improvement of the quality of life for the widows. A spiritual centre, vocational training centre, dairy farm, tulsi farm and turmeric field are being planned. As part of this initiative, the Guild also organises conferences and other sensitisation programmes.
It is a matter of agonising shame that the cause of the widow has received the least sympathy and attention of the state. A study conducted by the National Commission for Women in 1998 found more than 10,000 widows on the streets of Vrindavan. Ostracised, abandoned and stamped inauspicious, begging, singing bhajans or prostitution is what they have to resort to for survival. Aged and frail, some of these widows are unable to even cook for themselves. The traditional ‘sevadasi system’ prevalent in bhajan ashrams often expose these helpless women to sexual abuse.
PWD barricades piously proclaim, aurat ka samman is desh ka samman (honouring the woman is honouring the nation). But here is a ground reality that flies in the face of official piety. Mohini Giri, chairperson of the Guild of Service, says, "Today there is an urgent need to bring about attitudinal changes in society towards widows—to empower them and ensure the implementation of their legal rights."
The temple town of Vrindavan still resonates with countless paeans sung in praise of Lord Krishna, mantras, prayers for moksha from mouths denied a voice, faces denied vision and lives denied dignity. For the widows of Vrindavan, condemned to a lifetime of begging and bhajans, denied even a decent burial so to speak, the Guild comes as a new ray of hope.
Contact The Guild of Service at: Shubham, C-25, Qutub Institutional Area, New Delhi-110016 or e-mail at gos@bol.net.in and gos@vsnl.net.
(In issue dated May 17, the telephone number of Parivar Education Society was wrongly stated as 98312 36469. The correct number is 98312 36496).