Lady with the lamp

Seventy-four-year old Piloo Wadia worked for NGOs,looked after the underprivileged,treated the physically-disabled,administered social causes but still could not part with the deep longing to serve society.

Written by Shashi Priya
July 27, 2009 04:24 AM IST

3 min read

With her special care and regular visits to spastic kids at the Bharatiya Samaj Seva Kendra,Piloo Wadia is making wonders happen in their lives

Seventy-four-year old Piloo Wadia worked for NGOs,looked after the underprivileged,treated the physically-disabled,administered social causes but still could not part with the deep longing to serve society. And one fine day,her conscience suggested her to stop thinking about how to do it,and instead get down to doing it. That is how four years ago,Wadia walked into the office of the Bharatiya Samaj Seva Kendra (BSSK),an orphanage for children. I shifted to Pune some four years ago and since I have been working for various social causes,I wanted to continue. What I did earlier was not on a very personal level. With these kids my interaction is on a much personal and intimate level and it makes me feel content about my job, says Wadia,who found solace at the spastic department of BSSK. And today,it’s been more than four years since her consistent efforts to better the conditions of Om,Ratan,Abhi and Akshay all between the age groups of three and six.

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While Ratan throws his arm up in the air to welcome Wadia to his abode,Abhi,who cannot move any of the muscles in his body welcomes her with a twinkle in his eyes. And it is during these moments that Wadia feels it was worth shedding all her inhibitions to come to the quartet that now adds to the count of her own children. When I came to know about the spastic kids’ ward at BSSK,I was a bit apprehensive,since they need extensive care. Their brain could not coordinate with their motor system,so they cant do anything on their own; when it comes to eating,everything has to be mashed with hands and only then can you feed it to them, elaborates Wadia,who had to make a lot of effort initially to get rid of her cutlery culture practice to feed the tiny tots. Mashing vegetables with fingers,mixing it with various foodstuffs and then opening their mouths and putting it inside at the same time,while simultaneously cajoling them to eat all this multitasking comes naturally to me now, she smiles.

Wadia has been taking care of the four spastic kids at BSSK for over four years now and her perseverance bore fruit when Ratan started walking with calipers. A modest Wadia,however,gives credit for this achievement to a successful operation and not to her regular follow-up of the physiotherapy treatment. But Kanta Waghmare,a maid who takes care of the kids recalls how Wadia used to make Ratan exercise through tears,wails and shouts of agony. Ratan used to get very aggressive but Tai would make him exercise. Come what may,his loud wails,scratching or anything else,Tai would sit patiently and make him exercise, says Waghmare.