First my daughter had two Banjara girls, whom she asked to thread together various name beads for all of KTB’s friends at Urban Sprouts, the daycare back home:

The threads they used were so colourful:

As were the ornaments on the girls’ hands:

The beads cost Rs.2 each, and though the girls were illiterate, they asked for our help in stringing them together the right way: You can see "ABIGAIL" being spelt out here: While they did their work, corn-on-the-cob was shared: Soon, word seemed to spread that here was a person who would pay well, and she seemed to be running an ethnic cottage industry on the lawns of India Gate!

My daughter finally had to walk away with others pestering her, but she was happy that she’d given them employment, at least for a while.

These Banjarans were so colourful…I wish their lives were as colourful, too!