Indian Kids Do the Darndest Things!

Since being in India, I have seen some of the most adorable little Indian children! To the left is Kavitha, my CIEE program director, and her adorable 2 year-old, Happy. The residential director in the dorm has a 3 year-old daughter named Tanvi that is the literal princess of the Tagore International House. I'm sure I will get a picture of her soon. She provides us with endless entertainment and we wear her out before bedtime every night.

Besides our great new little Indian friends, I love seeing all of the adorable toddlers out in the city. Just riding on the bus, we see street kids playing cricket on the side of the road and little toddlers romping around pants-less between tents. At the Hindu temple this morning, the little girls were dressed up in the most beautiful tiny Indian outfits. For whatever reason, a lot of the babies and toddlers were wearing thick, black, dramatic eyeliner. I didn't want to stick my camera into the families' faces, but it was really different looking. The most common spectacle is to have a kid walk up to you, reach out their hand, and say "Hi, my name is _____."  We usually shake their hand and reply with our name, and their whole family looks on and laughs and snaps photos.  I think that they want to have conversation and take photos just because it is so strange/exceptional to see white people, especially girls, especially in such a large group, especially in Indian clothing.

My favorite thing to spot on the streets is small children riding motorcycles.  While this would probably be seen as abusive/neglectful parenting in the US, in India, it is just how some families get around. At first, I would laugh out loud and point every time I saw this goofy visual, and for the past two days, I have been trying to snap photos! So, here is a little photo series of Indian youngings on their motorcycles. (Sorry, most of these were taken while moving on a public bus.)