Age has not diminished the zeal in Sadhanatai, who now spends most of her time attending to bed-ridden Amte at Anandwan in Vidarbha's Chandrapur district.
MUMBAI: She has completed 80 years of an eventful life, most of it with her Magsaysay Award-winner husband Baba Amte, serving lepers and the less privileged members of the society.
But age has not diminished the zeal in Sadhanatai, who now spends most of her time attending to bed-ridden Amte at Anandwan in Vidarbha's Chandrapur district.
"Patients should be treated as humans. It is repulsive to watch today's doctors exploiting them for money", she told at Anandwan, the "forest of happiness" created by the couple.
Nearby, in a cottage, Amte, who turns 93 on December 26, lies in a specially created intensive care unit. The cottage houses a Medical and Surgical unit for senior citizens, supported by Dr Schweitzer Hospital Fund in the UK.
"Every moment of his life has been spent fighting with death," Sadhanatai says of her globally-renowned husband, who, in all likelihood, is unlikely to leave the 500-hectare campus of Anandwan due to his health problems.
Despite ill-health, Amte looks cheerful and makes the day of his visitors by waving at them from his bed.
"Even after two dozen operations, Baba is alive only due to the well-wishes of people. We may not have a bank balance but we have abundant balance of goodwill," Sadhanatai says.
Twenty-two years ago, Amte received the Ramon Magsaysay award for public service and in honour of a lifetime spent serving lepers.
His sons Prakash and Vikas, both doctors, have followed in his footsteps and are working among tribals.
Sadhanatai vividly remembers the time the couple decided to settle down at Warora in service of the poor and destitute.
Those were the days when Baba got bitten by snakes and scorpions on several occasions, she added. The couple began their marital life by staying among Dalits.
Anandwan, Amte's commune for lepers and others discarded by society, began with four lepers, a sick cow and a capital of fourteen rupees.
It slowly developed into a self-reliant centre which produces all its needs.
"Except for LPG gas, petrol and diesel, we don't have to rely on outside world for anything", says an associate of Amte.
Anandwan was established in 1951 and inaugurated by Vinoba Bhave. 'Somnath', an agricultural project for rural youth was established in 1967 and the 'Hemalkasa' project to provide medical aid to the Madia Gond tribals began in 1973.
Sadhanatai has been chosen for this year's Chaturang `Jeevan Gaurav' Lifetime Achievement Award, instituted by Chaturang Pratshthan, a cultural organisation based at Dombivali in Thane district.
The award will be presented to her at a special ceremony at Anandwan on December 19.
Ask her about her 61 year-old marital life and as many years of selfless social service, and Sadhanatai's advice is to read `Sameedha', her autobiography. "I have written everything in that book," she says.
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