Widows of Kashi preparing rakhis for PM
VARANASI: With the festival of Raksha Bandhan round the corner, hundreds of widows living in various ashrams of Kashi are busy preparing rakhis that they have decided to send to Prime Minister Narendra Modi who made his maiden entry to Lok Sabha from here in May this year.
Around a dozen widows, mostly in their 80s, are engaged in making colourful rakhis at Birla and Durgakund ashrams. Also, a group of elderly widows from Nepal living in ashrams there too are engaged in preparing rakhi. They had started making rakhis in the last week of July and have so far prepared around 500 such sacred wrist- bands in Meera Sahabhagi and Chetan Vihar ashrams. “We have planned a target of sending around 1,000 rakhis to our PM,” said an 80-year-old widow of Birla ashram.
Around hundred widows gathered at Durgakund ashram and resolved to send rakhis to the prime minister in the next couple of days. In places like Varanasi and Vrindavan, hundreds of widows lead an isolated life.
Living in small rooms in narrow alleys, they spend most of their time praying and looking for food in the absence of family support.
“I always work hard to change general perception of people towards widows in this country,” said Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh International who takes care of around 1,500 widows in Varanasi, Vrindavan and Kedarnath valley.
The Sulabh International is also providing ` 2,000 per month to each widow and also takes care of their health and other needs.
It has also provided television sets with satellite connections at ashrams so that widows could get some form of entertainment.