Adhik Kadam, who left for Kashmir at 19 as a student to research on the subject “Children affected by Armed Conflict in Jammu and Kashmir,” is a messiah for more than 200 orphaned girls today. He provides shelter to these girls in his five orphanage homes.

Adhik reaches out through Borderless World Foundation to the valley’s children of conflict, who have lost their fathers to violence. For more than half of the year, Adhik lives in Kashmir, the rest few months he spends in Pune. Living out of a bag, Adhik has found home with all the families he has met over the last 21 years.

“I don’t have a home in Pune or Kashmir. I live with anybody and eat at anyone’s place which extends a helping hand. But what actually brings me peace and true happiness is to be able to provide a home for orphaned girls in Kashmir.”

In a soul-stirring conversation with Adhik Kadam, he shared with Indian Women Blog a few of the stories when he encountered gunned terrorists while pursuing peace in the valley.

A Miraculous Escape:

“In the initial years of my stay in Kashmir, two boys used to meet me in the market. They knew about my work and how often I used to visit the nearby villages to conduct surveys. So they told me that there was a village in Kupwara district where I have my orphanage home and that I should have gone and met a family who had two girls. Both of their mother and father passed away. Kupwara is almost 70 % forest area and to travel from one village to another, we had to cross the dense forest. Otherwise, the distance is too long by road.

I went along with the two boys to meet the orphaned girls. We kept walking into the forest, and after a while, I realized that the two of them were not there with me anymore. Within a few seconds, I was surrounded with 6 men walking towards me. It was a trap. I thought that it was my last day and I would not survive. I kept walking towards the men and kept staring into the eyes of one of them. I went up to that man and asked him to grant me one minute because I wanted to chant before I die. I told him, “Mujhe ek baar chant karne dijiye uske baad aapka man kare toh thok dijiyega.” I opened my bag, and the man standing behind me thought I was taking out a gun or something. He hit me in my knees, and I fell in the feet of the man I was talking to. I took out my mala and started chanting, It was around 2 pm in the afternoon, and I kept chanting. When I opened my eyes, I saw no one around me, and the clock had struck 6:30 by then. It is hard to believe, but I didn’t realize how the time passed and why did those men leave me. It was a miracle.

That was one of the many horrifying experiences I have come across. When those men surrounded me, one of them pointed AK47 at my shoulder. I can still feel the coldness of the gun whenever I think of it.

A few months later, I met the same boys who fooled me. They apologized for having done that to me. They were surprised to see me alive. They also told me how they were scared for their lives because I could have reported them.”

‘Borderless’ families and their love

“My team and I went to a village that is situated on the Line of Control. When we reached the village, we heard people playing the dhol and a grand celebration going on. When we enquired, we got to know that there was a marriage. My colleague who wanted to meet the bride asked the villagers about her. She was told, “Dulhan toh yaha nahi hai. Woh toh paar rehti hai.”

This meant that the bride was across the border. We got curious to know how can a marriage then happen! They told us both the bride and the groom live in Pakistan.

Then who was getting married to whom and why were the celebrations happening in India, you may ask?

Well, we later came to know that they were two families who are made to live on either side of the border since partition. They celebrated each and every function with equal zeal and fervor. It was sad to see how these two families who should have been together but couldn’t because of the Line of Control.”

When a militant sees the good in your work

“This is an incident from 2006. I was teaching math to the children in our orphanage home. Three men randomly came and enquired about me. After I had completed the class, I went to them and spoke, they asked several questions that went on for an hour. They kept asking me about my religion, intentions, work, culture, etc. and then left.

I did not know who those three men were until 2012 when my manager revealed some shocking details about that 6-year-old visit. During an educational tour in Mumbai, she said that one of the three men who came in was the district commander of Hizbul Mujahideen, the other one was from Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the third was a government employee. Since two of them were terrorists, it meant a big threat to my life.

And I had no clue about all that!

But what surprised me the most was when a lady came to our home after 7 months and asked our manager to take in her daughter. Since we had no space then, our manager refused. The lady then told the manager how her husband had said that after his death his daughter would stay there. It was then I connected the dots and realized that she was the daughter of the same man. He passed away 4 months later, and since then his daughter has been living with us.

It was such a positive surprise to see a militant believing in our work and trusting us to keep his daughter safe and secure.”

Often questioned about being a Hindu and helping Muslim girls, Adhik brushes away the narrow mindsets and positively keeps moving forward for the betterment of the children in his homes.

We sincerely thank him for his work.

This article was first published on April 4, 2017.