Indian woman buried alive as a baby fights social evils

Sunita Aralikar, 56, was barely 16 days old when her illiterate father buried her alive a day after her mother died in a remote village near Latur, Maharashtra.
"I was lucky my maternal grandfather, Kundalikrao Mane, pulled me out of the tiny grave and gave me a new life in his home in Tupadi village in Nilanga taluka [block] in Latur district," says Aralikar, who is today an author and a well-known social activist fighting social evils such as female infanticide that almost claimed her own life. She learnt of her father's attempt to kill her when she was nine.
"He did not want me then and even at 14, my father sent ‘goondas' (hoodlums) to kill me again but I was saved by a cowherd."
Her journey through life is an incredible one of not just struggling with social prejudices and poverty but also finding an inner strength to get an education and ensure later her own sons got a good education. Her sons Yogesh, an engineer, and Jamir, a surgeon, are now working in the US, she says proudly.

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"Food and clothes were scarce during my childhood but I rather preferred to miss a meal than a day's school," Aralikar told Gulf News on the telephone from Latur.
Barely 16, she moved to Latur to train as a nurse at a hospital where she met her future husband Dilip Aralikar. "He gave me unflinching support