January 22, 2001 - Shanthi (aka. Little Shantee)

Shanthi's Family I took many pictures on my third trip. When I returned home, I noticed that Shantee seems to be in this picture with her family. Here a mother and her children are washing early in the morning before the stores open their shutters. This is the same spot where they put down thin straw mats at night and sleep with a thin blanket over them.

The old man is not your typical beggar. He just want to have fun... and a free meal.

The only time I see Shanthi is when she is hungry. I do not give her money but I go with her to buy food. She does not want to eat at Maharaja because everyone would see her so we go to another street to a restaurant or to a food vendor such as this one who is selling Chicken Biriyani (pronounced Bree-yani). This is parboiled white rice cooked with a piece of chicken and a whole egg.

The Chicken Biriyani is in the plastic bag usually wrapped in a banana leaf. Another tiny plastic bag holds the soup mix for wetting the Biriyani. Once I give her the parcel, Shanthi disappears. However, since I was taking pictures, she posed for these pictures by a flower vendor who sells flowers for women's hair.

On the way to buy the Chicken Biriyani, we passed by men digging a well for drinking water. The tripod holds the drill bit and the men are pulling on the rope. They let the rope go when the drill bit has reached the top of the tripod. These are typical apartment buildings around the corner from the student lodge I was staying in. Note the clothing that Shanthi is wearing. It looks like part of a school uniform.

Going to the Maharaja (pronounced "Mag-ha-ra-ja") Shanthi (left) sometimes accompanies Vela and Prabhu when we go to eat. Most everyone I know lives within a two block radius of the Hotel Maharaja which is a vegetarian restaurant for westerners and for people who like to watch westerners. I frequently take the kids there. Therefore, not to attract attention of the other kids, we sometimes go to the restaurant through the back alleys. Otherwise we get too many kids who want to join us. As you can see, the back alleys of Triplicane are small but very nice.

Unfortunately, I cannot afford to send Shanthi money each month as I do with my other kids. If you wish to support Shanthi, I will try to make arrangements through Vela so you to send her money each month.

This web site is written by Robert Purser. Contact me at robert_purser@usa.com or puppet@jps.net Back to Table of Contents