She enters the room with an arthritic limp, a crutch under an arm. The huge red bindi on her brow crinkles as she strains to lower herself into a chair, smoothing the folds of her nine-yard sari so typical of the attire of rural Maharashtra. Behind her a dozen children troop in, their chores and games temporarily forgotten in the excitement of a guest's arrival at Sanmati Bal Niketan, a two-flat home for orphans at the Pune suburb Hadapsar. They surround their Mai. "I am Sindhu Sapkal," Mai announces.