One was picked up from the street and another from a dustbin by Vidyakar, and today, they tell me, "He is the father and mother we never had; he is everything to us."

They never asked him how they reached Udavum Karangal. "It is immaterial to us," they say.

"I came to know about the outside world after I joined a course in catering. All my friends have families and I am an orphan. But I am happy that I have Papa Vidyakar. He is like God to me. Had he not picked me up, I would not have been alive or working in a big hotel right now."

Devi remembers how she used to sit on Papa's lap and insist on him feeding her. "I never asked him how I came here. I have no interest in my past. My life is my Papa. Even when he asks whether I wanted anything, I have nothing to ask for because he has provided me everything, a home, love, education and now a job in our administrative office. What more do I want? But I have only one prayer; there should not be any orphans in the world. Why should people like Papa do this work?"