A parent for 99 orphans

You would never guess that Jagadeeswari, the girl with smiling eyes and infectious laughter, is a tsunami orphan.

She is an irrepressible 10-year-old, who squeals in delight when the photographer takes out his camera. She poses for every picture, playfully pulls her kid brother Jagan to her side and coaxes another group to join her.

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You would never guess that Jagadeeswari, the girl with smiling eyes and infectious laughter, is a tsunami orphan. In Nagapattinam, she is one among 122 children who have been orphaned.

Jagadeeswari, who is playing in the courtyard of Annai Sathya Illam, an orphanage, has 98 other children for company. Ask them where there appa (father) is and they turn—not to a dreadful past — but to district collector J. Radhakrishnan who, along with his wife Krithika, has taken the little ones under his wings. "Some people were ready to adopt them but we decided that they should get state care. In the process, we became their foster parents," says Radhakrishnan.

After school, it is Bharatnatyam, karate and yoga classes for the children. "It was amazing to see how quickly most of the kids recovered from the shock. For others, we gave them time to come out of the shell," recalls social welfare officer Suryakala. Tamilarasi, 16, who now dares to dream of becoming a doctor, says, "Earlier I had two parents and a brother. Here I have so many brothers and sisters."

As we take leave, a young boy calls from his karate class: "Come back in five years and I will be a brown belt."