Aditya Tiwary adopted Avnish in January, and recently he adopted a tiger.
Highlights
- Aditya Tiwary had adopted Avnish at the age of 28
- Avnish was abandoned by his parents as he has Down's Syndrome
- Recently Mr Tiwary adopted Lucky, he said it was a childhood dream
Aditya Tiwary, 28, is the doting dad of 2-year-old Avnish and 2- year-old Lucky. Both are adopted.
Mr Tiwary had adopted Avnish, who suffers from Down's Syndrome, in January, after a long battle with the law and the orphanage - which probably made him the youngest single parent to adopt in the country.
Since then Mr Tiwary and Avnish are inseparable. Lucky, though, does not live with the family. The young tiger's address is the Indore zoo.
Mr Tiwary first saw Avnish at an orphanage in Indore where he had gone to celebrate Fathers' Day in 2014. The child had been abandoned by his biological parents because of his health issues.
Adopting a tiger was a childhood dream, said Aditya Tiwary.
The young techie had wanted to adopt Avnish right away, but since he was well below the required age, he started paying the expenses of Avnish.
Later, after he found Avnish was not being properly looked after at the orphanage, he started the procedure to adopt him. He got lucky. Around that time, the government decided to cut down the age requirement of people who want to adopt from 30 years to 25 years.
"Adopting a child was a childhood dream," said Mr Tiwary. I got to know that because of Down's Syndrome and heart problem, Avnish had been abandoned by his parents. Adopting him was difficult. I was very young and not married at the time."
Mr Tiwary got married this July, and instead of a lavish celebration, he decided to use the money to fulfill another childhood dream. He adopted Lucky.
Explaining his decision, Mr Tiwary said only 14,000 tigers are left in the country.
"I want to save tigers for coming generations and motivate others to come forward to save tigers. I decided to adopt Lucky as his story was similar to that of my son. In both their cases, their parents had abandoned them."
Uttam Yadav, the in-charge of Indore Zoo said Mr Tiwari's example had motivated many others. "Seeing him, many have come forward to help not only tigers but other animals also."