She was only eight when Dr Sarojini Aggarwal's daughter, riding pillion with her mother, was killed in a hit-and-run in 1978. Over the next 34 years, the grief of losing her only daughter led Dr Aggarwal to give a new lease of life to over 800 destitute girls she took under her wing.
Today, Dr Aggarwal, now 80, will receive the Neerja Bhanot award, which is given to Indian women who fight against social injustice, for her work.
The Lucknow-based social worker who is fondly called 'Maa' by as many as 800 girls whom she has given shelter in 'Manisha Mandir', a shelter home in Lucknow, will become the 26th recipient of the award.
"I wanted a daughter, but I lost her when she was eight. It was then that I decided to look after girls from underprivileged sections of society and raise them like I would have raised Manisha," says Dr Aggarwal who set up the shelter for girls on September 24, 1984, on Manisha's birth anniversary.
One of the first children she took in was a girl whose mother had died and whose father, a labourer, was left disabled in an accident. Two decades later, the girl, now 20, is married and lives with her family.
"It is not just about shelter, clothing or food, but motherly love, that these children need. Girls remain in our shelter home till they are 18 years, after which they are encouraged to be independent. Many of my daughters are now working as bank managers, teachers," says Dr Aggarwal, brimming with pride.
"When I had started, I had three children to raise and I was told that my dream should not come in the way of the upbringing of my children. But when they grew up, I completely dedicated to fulfilling what I had set out to dream."
Apart from school education, girls are provided vocational training and coaching for higher studies with an aim to make them self-reliant when they leave the home. "Until our daughters are empowered with education, society will not progress and this is what I will do till the end," says the octogenarian.
