Rs. 10

Today, while sitting on Quiet Beach, 4km north of Pondicherry, I was approached by a sad, dirty man. He was selling shells he had found on the beach out of a black plastic bag, which he had also presumably found.

He sat down beside me and begin to lay out the shells on the sand before us. He took great care in the placement of each shell, pointing out the special characteristics of each one.

Without speaking a word of English he demonstrated how one was very spiny and shiny, while another one, if you held it up to your ear you could hear the sea. The sea we were sitting 10 meters from.

Finally he brought one out that resembled a sailboat. He pushed it along the sand with his had creating a small smooth patch in its wake. This action was quite possibly the most endeering thing I have ever witnessed.

By way of writing numbers in the sand he asked Rs.10 for one of the smaller shells and Rs.15 for a larger one. Instead I asked if I could take his photo for 10 rupees by writing in the sand and making the motion of taking a photo.

He agreed with the bobble of his head.

Here is one of the photos.




His expression instantly transformed when I handed him the bill.


An example of his developed gate while departing.