TAKING NOTE
Entrusted with the care of the homeless
K.L.Noatay

EXTENDING compassion to a needy person is a heart-warming experience. The Shanti Alya Trust, a charitable group, has set up a home for orphan girls near Shimla with the above philosophy in view. The trust has set up a home, nearly as real and complete as a normal home, for hapless and homeless girls. The institute is also imparting wholesome education and adequate expertise in household work to the inhabitants.

The Shanti Alya, 3 km from Shimla’s airport at Jubberhatti, is located in Rampur-Keonthal village. Situated midst salubrious surroundings, this home was founded by Justice Kamlesh Sharma, a Senior Judge of the Himachal Pradesh High Court. Inspired by great personalities like Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa, she purchased fifteen bighas in the village in 1993 by selling her share of a smaller but extremely valuable property in the main town. The Shanti Alya came up on the said plot, slowly and steadily soon thereafter.

Justice Sharma is the founder Chairperson of the Shanti Alya Trust, while the other four members of the trust, all residents of Shimla town, are Sneh Sharma, a retired headmistress, Shail Pandit, a retired teacher, Kanchan Sharma and Mr Rajiv Sharma.

The Shanti Alya Trust has raised an impressive five-storeyed building for housing the children as well as for organising other philanthropic activities. Shanti Alya became functional from March 2000. It can accommodate up to 35 to 40 children. So far it has adopted seven girls in the age group of 6 to 15 years.

The trust would like to accommodate more destitute children, who have no one of their own to fall back upon. With regard to its admission, the institution is wholly governed by its objectives and ideals. The caste, creed and domicile of the applicant are immaterial.

All adopted girls are admitted to the nearby Government High School for their schooling. Being under the care and supervision of doting foster mothers, the girls are doing very well in their classes and have been securing high positions in their examinations.

The children are leading a disciplined and well-regulated life. They rise at 5 am, wash and get ready by 6 am. After a cup of tea or a glass of milk, they practise yoga and dhyana up to 7 am. They help in preparation of breakfast and pack their lunch till 8 am, have their breakfast by 9 am and then go to school. They return from school by 4.30 pm, relax and play up to 5 pm, do their homework till 7 pm and then say their evening prayers. They again study up to 8 pm, and then help in cooking and take dinner by 8.30 pm. After dinner, is entertainment time — they can dance, read, watch TV. The lights are switched off at 10 pm.

When asked about their ambition in life, two of the senior girls said they wanted to be doctors, while the other two said they wished to become police officers. The rest were too tender-aged to know what ambition meant. They, however, appeared well adjusted in the foster home.

The maintenance of one child costs nearly Rs 600 per month to the Alya trust, which is managing the expenditure out of its own resources. Most of the savings of Justice Kamlesh are used for the maintenance of the home and its occupants.

Shanti Alya endeavours to impart to its girls training in various domestic chores and the art of house-keeping in such a way that they become well groomed, mentally, intellectually and spiritually. They are given books to read and are provided facilities to learn stitching. The elders in Alya treat the girls very affectionately, as if they were their own daughters.

For how long can the inmates stay in Alya? Trustees say the girls will never be forsaken by Alya, except that, like daughters in any family, they will be at liberty to detach themselves from the institution of their own volition — be it temporarily — on finding employment or getting married. And if any of the girls performs brilliantly in studies and needs higher education, the trust will do its best to secure the admission to the deserving candidate.

Shanti Alya is making optimum use of its land by planting crops, cereals, vegetables, fruits and flowers. It has adopted latest horticultural techniques and even caters for floriculture and dairy farming. It utilises solar energy for domestic purposes like lighting, heating of water, etc. From its dairy, Alya gets enough milk not only for consumption by its residents but also to be sold in the nearby markets.

Shanti Alya has been able to make itself self-sufficient and self-dependent. The agricultural, horticultural and veterinary practices adopted by Alya are now also being adopted by villagers living nearby.

In addition to taking care of orphans, Shanti Alya is providing vocational training courses in sewing, tailoring and knitting for the benefit of young girls as well as women of the nearby villages. It is also running a homoeopathic dispensary for the benefit of the needy.

Last June, a medical camp was organised by Alya in the local Government High School. As many as 175 students were examined by a team of doctors, comprising a heart specialist, ophthalmologist, dental surgeon and general practitioners. The children were provided free medicines.

The most heartening aspect about the functioning of Shanti Alya is that nearly all of its working hands come forward voluntarily to make the home an ideal place for the homeless.