History

For the mentally–ill, destitute on the streets of India. Alone and lonely. Rejected, shunned and denied. Morbidly ragged in appearance. Despondently depressed in attitude. The mentally–ill destitute wandering aimlessly on the streets of India.

Lost in their own world, no shoulder to cry on, no hand to reach out to. Only desperation, despair and darkness. The mentally afflicted destitute.Whose anguished cry reached out to us, whose tormented eyes begged of us, whose disheveled, dirty, half naked appearance beseeched to us. To reach out to the, and made them seed, the inspiration, the focus, the nadir of our dedication.

And thus was born “Shraddha Rehabilitation Foundation”. An institution inspired by the dedicated to the mentally–ill downtrodden. As word of mouth spread, as the Gods graced us with luck, patience and courage, friends, relatives, strangers, luminaries, known and unknown answered to our appeal of help and joined with us in a prayer for the living dead. And made us feel that there were many who were sensitive to the tragedy of the mentally–ill destitute. We were not alone, we were a legion. A hundred and forty five senior and eminent artists from all over India and abroad donated their paintings and sculptures in a found raising drive at the Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay between the 18th to 24th October 1993. From the proceeds collected therein, SRF bought a plot of land in Dahisar (West), Mumbai.

Lions Club of Bombay, Juhu Gulmohar, in a magnanimous gesture came forward and donated the cost of construction of the entire institution. We were not alone, we were a legion.And today, eight years down the line, Shraddha Rehabilitation Foundation has set up this institution, the first of its kind in India, which will give psychiatric care and rehabilitation facilities to mentally afflicted destitutes on an absolutely free basis.

Started on the auspicious day of ‘Eid’ on the 10th of February, 1999, we believe in all humbleness and in all humility that this is a very small offering from us to the Gods above. But an offering nevertheless. A prayer, a hope, hands reaching out, a faith a belief, a Shraddha.Making that wretched person afflicted with a mental illness meandering aimlessly in the dark corners of every bylane and every pathway of India believe that somebody cares, somebody feels for them.

That I care for him/her, you care for him/her, we all care for him/her. Making them and us both acknowledge, in our occasional awareness of fleeting wisdom, that truth is true only when it stretches beyond the limits of all endurance, light is light only when it has the capacity to pierce the darkness.

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