9th Standard

I live and go school in the Kalrayan Hills in Tamil Nadu, India. Owned and operated by the Arcot Lutheran Church — an Indian, Dalit-led church body in the state of Tamil Nadu — the boarding homes here serve very poor, rural, mostly indigenous students. Many families in these hills rely on subsistence farming, or have to travel far away from home to find low-wage labor.

In the Indian Caste system, I am Dalit. "Dalit" means "broken/scattered" in Sanskrit, and is a term used for people belonging to castes in India who have been subjected to untouchability. In the past, Dalit people were believed to be impure, so dominant-caste Hindus considered their presence to be polluting. The "impure status" was related to historic occupations that were considered to be "polluting" or debased, such as working with leather, disposal of dead animals, or sanitation. [via Wikipedia]

Iniya (12), Bhuvana (8)