Hashitar and Washitar

Washitar (left) and Hashitar (right), pictured above in the blue hats and outfits, were the two babies at The Home while I was there. We are celebrating their birthdays in the photo above. Like most of the kids at the Aarti Home, the birthdays of Washitar and Hashitar (so named because they arrived at The Home around the same time) are actually unknown. Sandhya just chose a random auspicious day to be their birthdays. Everyone at The Home has a "birthday" and everyone's birthday is celebrated with cake and ice cream and the birthday boy/girl gets to wear a special outfit throughout the day instead of the usual school uniform.

Washitar and Hashitar both arrived at the Aarti Home as babies and so the Aarti Family is the only they will ever know. Everyone at The Home collectively takes care of them, taking turns washing, feeding, and playing with them. Washitar is more outgoing and loves to be held by everyone. Hashitar does not like strangers and she mostly just cried whenever I tried to hold or play with her. Also one time she peed on my arm.

Most of the babies that arrive at the Aarti Home have either been abandoned at the local hospital or left on the steps of the Home. In one especially horrifying story, a mother left her baby in a shoebox on the steps of the Home one night prior to a rainstorm. By the time the live-in mothers at The Home discovered the baby, she had been soaked in cold rain for the past 6 hours, and sadly, did not survive. Because of this Sandhya has now created a covered crib outside The Home for babies to be safely deposited into. It is a bittersweet reality that the crib is now regularly used.

Although I think it is horrible that Washitar and Hashitar will grow up never knowing what a mother's love feels like, I love these two babies with all my heart and am so grateful for the joy they have brought me. Here they are during the celebration of Krishna's birthday. Washitar (being held by Sandhya) is dressed up as Krishna and Hashitar is dressed up as Radha, Krishna's lover.