January 24, 2001 - How to contact the kids.
January 24, 2001 - How to contact the kids. |
How to Find Vela If you are in Madras and want to meet Vela, simply stand outside the Hotel Maharaja and yell, "Vela". All the kids and all the grandparents within a two block radius will begin looking for Vela for you. Sooner or later, they will find her for you.... so just go inside the Hotel Maharaja (hotel means restaurant) and have something to eat while you wait. Finding the other kids is not as easy. They are shy and more traditional. Everyone knows Vela but few people know the other kids. Therefore, it is best if you contact Vela first. |
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Near the Maharaja are a number of IPS (Internet Service Providers). Most use dial up networks with poorly maintained software so avoid them if you can. Just four blocks away is a direct satellite link with much lower prices. This is on Picroft's Road. (This is faster internet access than even my local college has.) Above is the ISP which once sent and receive messages for the kids but it is now out of business. |
How to write the kidsIf you wish, you can write the kids directly. Since none of the kids can read or write English, this is quite amazing! (Some of the kids cannot even read or write their own language of Tamil.) So how do they communicate with you? The kids simply find someone to write their letter for them. While some of the kid's letters are written by friends of the family, most are written by hired writers. That is, the kids must pay for the service of writing a letter. Even the cost of an aerogramme is 1/3 of Prabhu's daily wages. Therefore, the kids can write only you when they have money. Be aware that sometimes letters are not what they seem. After writing for over a year to Mumtaz, I learned that my letters to Mumtaz were received by her father instead. And the letters I received in return, which I thought were from a cute 10-year-old girl, were really from a well-rounded man of 40 who is a drinking buddy of Mumtaz' father. The two men sent the letters simply to get more money from me. They told me all about Mumtaz school and how the teacher was expecting me to visit the class and to help teach the kids English. None of this was true! Therefore, writing the kids is not as simple as writing someone in the USA. But then, absolutely nothing in India is simple. |
Also realize that anything valuable will be stolen from letters. Even a letter which contains pictures will be stolen by post office employees. Also note that letters with stamps will be stolen. To mail a letter to the kids, always go to the post office and ask that the post office use the meter rather than stamps. Aerogrammes are the only form of mail which seem to get through 95% of the time. The problem is they are so light, they sometimes gets torn... specially in the US Post Office sorting machines. Also realize that e-mail messages to India are intercepted and read by students learning to use the Internet. Never send long message (over 3k) because access to e-mail in India can be at only 100 characters a second. Please e-mail me before you write or email the kids. Things change monthly so some of this information might be outdated. Currently you can reach me faster at r_purser@innercite.com. Put "Street Kids" in the subject line. Note: Mail takes 8 days to reach India but can take 22 days to reach India during December. Mail from India takes 20 days to reach the USA. Sometimes it is much faster but as of December 2000, the mail is very slow. |
Vela's Address Vela - |
Vela's Backup Address Vela - |
Here is the man who writes Vela's areogramme letters for her. He is the manager of an ink shop for commercial printing companies. His shop is in the same building that Vela gets her mail. This man is a friend of Vela's and so does not charge her for writing letters. A very good man. I asked this man if I could send money through him for Vela and the other kids. He smiled and said "no". All of the kids' relatives live or work very close to his office. He said that if I sent money to the kids through him, all the relatives would continually come to him asking for money. Very true!!! |
J. Murray /
Imprint Industries |
Vela's E-Mail Address To: Gee GeeNet <geegeenet2000@yahoo.com> Please remember, e-mail messages cost the kids money. (I believe ten rupee to send and receive messages.) Do not send messages unless you send some money too. Alternative e-mail address: ka pyarilal <billgates3k@yahoo.com> |
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Mari's Address Mari's family has the good fortune of living on the sidewalk in front of the "Sri Balaji Sweet Stall". Letters to Mari should be sent in care of this shop. Mari - |
Mari has a second address for sending her post cards. If you attempt to send Mari anything other than an aerogramme, it is a good idea to send a separate aerogramme or post card to the Star Theater address listing what you have sent to the other address. |
Mari -  c/o P. Vellaiswamy No.40 Star News Mart Star Theater Triplicane High Road Triplicane Chennai 600 005 India |
Mari's E-Mail Address To: Mari Kabali <kabalimari@hotmail.com> Mari's employer helps Mari with her messages. Therefore, she receives message in two or three days but does not respond but once a month. (He recently gave me his personal e-mail address.) |
Kumar's Address Kumar's real name is pronounced "Piney" His mother gave him the nickname of Kumar. "Piney is spelled either Palani or Pazhani. On his ration card, the name is Pazhani and on this passport, his name is spelled Palani. The K. is an abbreviation for "son of Kanniappan" which is sometimes written as "S/o. Kanniappan". Even on his mother's ration card, the name of Kumar's of the father is simply written "K." (Kumar's father died in a lorie accident.) On his passport, his name is simply listed as Palani Kanniappan. Use this name if you send him a Money Gram since he uses his passport for an ID. Note: "Tamil Nadu" is the state of India that the kids live in. Kumar likes to include this in his address. |
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Kumar's E-Mail Address To: Gee GeeNet <geegeenet2000@yahoo.com> Please remember, GeeGeeNet is an ISP shop. E-mail messages cost the kids money. (I believe ten rupee.) Do not send messages unless you send some money too. Kumar just gave me a new address just for him. However, sence he cannot read or write, I don't know if it will work. |
Mumtaz' Address |
Mumtaz c/o Star Screens (Sorry this address is no longer valid.)
I have been told that this store is closed as of Fall 2000. I don't know if it is permanently closed or not. I have no other mailing address for Mumtaz. Mumtaz' E-mail address is the same as Vela's. |
Prabhu's Address Prabhu does not have his own address so he uses the same address that Vela at :
Since Prabhu's Grandmother now picks up Prabhu's mail, she also has access to Vela's mail. Not good! Note: the kids love to be photographed holding a cell phone. In Vela's first pictures, she used just a block of wood for a phone. None of these are real phones. |
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Shantee's Address Shanthi Until recently (10/15/2001), I did not know how to get in touch with Shantee. Normally she just appears when she is hungry. The problem for strangers writing her is you never know who will intercept the letter. Shantee cannot read English so someone else must read the envelope to see who the letter is to. It took me a long time to find someone who would receive postal mail for Vela. All of her grandmother's friends would open any mail address to Vela and take anything valuable. And since Vela tells everyone where she is receiving her mail, this defeats the whole purpose of having a secret mailing address. |
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