She is probably the world’s youngest mother of more than a hundred new-borns. Even when she was in her early or

mid-twenties, Gunjan Gole of Amravati chose a life of an unusual calling -- as if defying the fun and frolic of youth, as if denying herself the joy of carefree living under the wings of family elders. Instead, she became the youngest

family-elder of countless numbers of HIV-affected persons and mother to new-borns whose biological mothers

departed to cruel strokes of destiny. Or, possibly, or miraculously, they happened to know that a young girl was waiting to take over a foster-motherhood on their behalf to care for their little ones. At 32 years of age, Gunjan Gole is already a veteran in altruism, having been motivated to launch her own journey of  benevolence years earlier.

This is the story depicting an altogether different kind of youth -- a young girl who matured earlier than her time, but found an immense joy out of life -- and life-giving activity. This is, therefore, the story of a young foster-mother without whom life would have been a sheer hell -- or even death -- to those HIV patients or the little ones whose main food was mother’s milk. So, Gunjan offers that to all of them -- in unbelievable numbers. And when she cannot have her own milk for those little ones, Gunjan goes around in the community to seek ‘extra’ milk from lactating mothers with heavy output. That is her milk-bank, almost officially.

Where is the innocence of youth, then, in Gunjan’s case? Why not, she may be wondering. For, innocence is not an

artificially-worn cloak of ignorance. It is, on the other hand, an attire of transparent honesty with what is called life. So, even when she was a pre-school child this little girl told her Anganwadi teachers that her name was Gunjan -- which nobody had given her. She liked its sound, and so chose it for herself. And from that moment on, Gunjan assumed that she was a bee, all the time distributing honey-sweetness to the world, to everybody who needed it, to everybody in whose life bitterness threatened to destroy humanness.

So she hums -- round the clock, round the year -- year after year -- in larger purpose, and blossoms in benevolence.

An eventual marriage did give her own one kid. But much before that, Gunjan -- what a musical name, though -- had chosen to be walking in the footprint of the universal mother -- beyond all definitions, beyond all social norms, beyond all the narrow confines that generally bound the ordinary women. But then, who can say that Gunjan is an ordinary person? For, she is one of those rare young souls who were destined or ordained to touch those hitherto untouched boundaries of altruism and benevolence.

Rising from personal traumas of her own, she is leaving behind footprints for people to follow. With stars in her eyes and hope in her veins she says, “I am my Mother’s daughter. Whatever she did, whoever she was, made me and all I ever wanted to do was to turn her pains into glory.” And just like that, the life that started with the aim of turning every pain into multiple moments of happiness, she transformed not only her life, but also the lives of the people she met along the way. Gunjan -- meaning humming of the bees, is the metaphor of her name, suggesting continuous work, dedication of a unique kind. In this case, the hum of women and children living under the shadows of abuse and violence. Gunjan Gole, since the age of 5, became the voice of the voiceless souls -- souls looking for help and comfort. At a tender age of just 5, she saved a 15-year-old from committing suicide. With great savoir-faire, and courage she saved that young girl’s life, not only so, but also saved her from child marriage. Nurturing a very humanistic approach to life, she says, “I havelistened to women for hours on end. Crying, weeping, suicidal women wanting to end their lives.” Life, a precious dear thing with the possibility to reach for the stars, is something entirely beautiful.