Author: Shreya Roy Chowdhury
Publication: The Times of India
Date: April 30, 2011
URL: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-04-29/delhi/29486765_1_haridwar-orphans-yoga
Shewasjustthree days old, when she was left
to die in a lonely alley in the temple town of Haridwar. Dumped andforgotten,shelay
by the roadside crying and gasping for breath amid the ebb and flow of the
Ganga nearby. But destiny had something else in store. Soma Sharan was picked
by a good Samaritan. That was 1993. And from an orphanage in Haridwar to a
heady LosAngelesto being the prestigious Gates Millennium scholar - it's been
a giant leap of fate for the 18-year-old girl.
Eight yearslater,it'shomecoming for Soma Sharan.
She has come to India to be with her 70 brothers and sisters. Well, she has
a very large family at Sri Ram Ashram, Haridwar, where she grew up after being
abandoned.
Her undergraduate course at University of
California at Los Angeles is being sponsored.Andshehas alsoearned a scholarship
for her graduate studies and even PhD.
The Sri Ram Ashram, where Sharan stayed till
she was 10, was started by Baba Hari Dass Babaji - who, in 1970, had gone
to America to teach yoga.
Growing up in Haridwar, Sharan and two other
'sisters' were the only ones attending an English-medium school.
English education helped them to cope with
America, butthingsweren't allthat rosy. "The hardest part was that kids
teased us for being orphans. But back home at Haridwar,wedidn'tfeelwewereorphans.
We had such a large family atthe ashram." Her English was "good
for India" as she putsit,but notfor America where she moved at 10. When
she moved to the Mount Madonna Center - a yoga commune run by Babaji'sstudents
- and got admission at Mount Madonna School in 2004, she felt out of place
once again.
Sharan willbestudying International Development
and hopestodo a PhD.Shewantsto start non-profit organizations aroundtheworld
andhelp destitute children. She'll return to India every year but not establish
herself here. "I see myself in different countries. I'm not keen to live
at one place," she says, "There's so much to do in the world."
