Kumar is quite a character; the youngest of the 51 Children in the Orphanage, at the age of three he practically runs the place. The regular rules do not apply to Kumar; he has created his own order of operations and sticks to his peculiar routine. His most dedicated efforts revolve around food. He eats from the same bowl for every meal. Everyone else chooses a plate from the pile, but not Kumar. He hides his bowl around the Home and dashes off at meal time to recover it in private. Should another Child find his coveted bowl and attempt to eat from it, Kumar will refuse to eat the meal at hand. No other plate will do, a substitute bowl is unacceptable. He would rather go hungry than eat from an another dish. With the legendary bowl in hand, Kumar aims to be first in the serving line for rice. Should this highly sought position be snatched by one of his 50 siblings, Kumar insists on being served dead last. He will slowly walk to the end of the line and wait patiently, all three years of him, to be served. Once his bowl is filled, he joins the seated line of Children on the ground and covers his lips with his index finger - remaining in absolute silence, as if gesturing hush, until everyone is served, seated, and ready to pray in unison. If someone asks him a question during this period of roughly ten minutes, he ignores their inquiry. He remains focused, finger to lips, rarely blinking, waiting to pray.
During a recent special dinner each Child was given a hard boiled egg - good protein and a delicacy to them - along with their rice and rasam (broth). Kumar carefully hid his egg between his legs as he ate and somehow managed to sneak it into his shirt pocket before the meal was over. As he was washing his plate after dinner, he pulled the egg out of his pocket and began to rinse it in water. The Children loved this! They quickly told on him and he was questioned about the egg. His response - he was saving it for later. Apparently this is a recurring offense; he has been known to hide his egg and get up in the middle of the night to eat it. Kumar’s version of a midnight snack.
The kid is HUNGRY! Last week the new puppy, Topsy, was creating a commotion - growling, barking, squealing - so I went outside to investigate. There was Kumar. Squatting down eating from the dog’s bowl.
He pesters and taunts everyone, but if anyone dares to retaliate he’s a puddle of tears. He follows me everywhere. He falls asleep with this legs crossed. He snores. He’s the first one up in the morning when I wake up all the Children and always runs to give me a big hug. He can count to 15 in English, but without fail leaves out the number eight. He walks his brothers and sisters to school each morning and then returns Home to go through their bags of belongings, choosing their choice clothes, blankets, and bangles for his day of play. And new this week . . . he refuses to let me give him a cold water cup bath each morning unless I sing to him. King Kumar. He’s an orphan in India
