The New Indian Express, Oct 14, 2007
BHAWANIPATNA: Shyamsundar Jal, a petty tailor, has a strange obsession if one can call that. Picking up abandoned children and sheltering them in his small two-room dingy house he calls 'Jasoda Ashram', named after his mother.
At Gambhariguda village in Orissa's Kalahandi district, this Dalit man has a world of his own. In the past 30 years or so, Jal has adopted 42 children.
Some are milk sucking infants, some are college going youths with a dream.Unnoticed, Jal doubles up as a tailor and a daily wage earner to keep his orphanage going. Once a laughing stock in his village, he is a revered person for his selfless service. Some good souls have even come forward to help him.
"When I got married", recalls his wife Kasturi, "I was shocked to see he already had three children. It took me a while to adjust. Later I realised his greatness." Kasturi too is devoted to the work and gives full time bringing up the children.
Jal, semi-literate, does not how it happened but keeps chanting the humanity mantra - 'service to destitute children is service to God'. He lost his father when he was just one-year-old. Her mother once encouraged him to pick up the first abandoned child from Dharamgarh hospital premises 30 years back. And life has moved on since then.
In fact, Jal's first adopted son Bhujbal, is married and helps his 'father' from whatever he earns from a godown. "I am the first child of Shyamsundar", says Bhujbal with pride. The house sheltering the 42 children lacks hygiene and is overcrowded. Recently Lok Sabha member Bikram Keshari Deo had allotted Rs 2 lakh from MPLAD fund to construct a pucca house which is almost complete.
Soon, Jal's 42 children will find a new home - and possibly new dreams.
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