In 1958, a young girl stepped timidly inside a door beckoned by a welcoming smile and the warm environs of a comfortable home. That child was hearing-impaired. The daughter of a housewife, she was left abandoned at home for lack of any other option available to the poor family.
But Mrs. Mainatai Ramchandra Gokhale saw otherwise. In the child she saw a future. A future where she would be able to stand on her own feet, a future where the child would be a source of pride for her parents and not a source of burden as she was then.
Single-handedly and without any educational equipment, Mainatai took upon herself to try and educate this hearing-impaired child. That was the beginning. Word spread and soon Mainatai’s home was the temple of the hearing-impaired. A Sapling became a tree.