Destitutes tie the knot with the future

MUMBAI, May 16: Neatly arranged marigold flowers and banana leaves embellished the entrance, the red-and-yellow pandal wore proud marks o...

MUMBAI, May 16: Neatly arranged marigold flowers and banana leaves embellished the entrance, the red-and-yellow pandal wore proud marks of the kum kum swastika and notes of shehnai filled the air. But though accompaniments to the wedding were usual, the wedding wasn8217;t.

For, an inmate of Mankhurd8217;s Bal Kalyan Kendra BKK, an institute of the Children8217;s Aid Society, a government-aided home for destitute and single-parent children, was getting married. Meena 19, who had been staying at the Kendra since the age of six, was tying the knot with Amit Bhoite, who himself had been brought up in an orphanage. 8220;Rehabilitation for life8221; was how the authorities at the Kendra described the happening.Meena had been found on the roadside, in her infancy, by a lady police constable 19 years ago. The constable took the baby to the juvenile court, Umerkhadi, from where Meena was transferred to the Kendra after six years. Ever since, Meena had known only the premises of the Kendra as her home and the house mother, LalithaThakur, as her very caring mother.

Lalitha Thakur and others at the Kendra went all the way to Pune 8212; where Amit lives and works 8212; to find out more about the boy who wished to marry Meena. 8220;One cannot just give away a daughter in marriage without proper scrutiny. We agreed for the match only after we were satisfied with the boy8217;s social and professional record,8221; Thakur pointed out. Amit has a permanent job with the Birla Education Society8217;s mess.

Amit and his sister had been kept in two different orphanages 8212; Adivasi Seva Mandal and Shraddhanand Mahilashram 8212; for a period of three and four years respectively after their mother passed away and their father was unable to look after them. 8220;My children have lived like orphans, and I have been one too. They ceased to be orphans once they were out of the orphanage. But what about the children who continue to languish in orphanages? Someone needs to get them out of there. That8217;s why we decided to get a daughter-in-law from the orphanage,8221; said Amit8217;sfather Hanumant Bhoite.8220;According to our experience, marriage is the best form of rehabilitation for a girl. We need more such people to come forward for such a cause,8221; A R Sheikh, chief officer and the government in-charge of the Kendra told Express Newsline.

Meena is the third inmate of the Kendra to get married. The first one was one Neelam, who married a BARC contractor K Valavan two years ago and the second one Vaishali, who too married a contractor based in Gwalior.

The recent wedding not only left the people at the Kendra happy. Aruna Acharya of Fine Polycolloids Pvt Ltd was happy to bear the expenses of Meena8217;s marriage, and a city-based jeweller who didn8217;t wish to be named sponsored the mangalsutra.

The Kendra currently has 160 girls and 120 boys, and more than 10 girls there are of a marriageable age. 8220;We have been approached with proposals. There are even those who think that the Kendra will give them not just a girl but a job and an accommodation as well,8221; said Shrikanth Murthy,administrator of the Bal Kalyan Kendra. He said the institute also checks the prospective groom8217;s health status. 8220;We consider it to be very important because even people with sexually transmitted diseases STD and other ailments have approached us,8221; he said.

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Meanwhile, a tearful Thakur, while bidding goodbye to Meena, asked her to note down the address of the Kendra and of the people who run it in her diary, should an emergency arise.