the lingo boy

Happened to watch a TV programme about this boy. Tried to gather more information from the net to share it with you all. Thanks to all who have rendered some information on the net about him.

                                   

             

The lingo boy

Ravi, a young Gujarati boy, now known as the Lingo Kid all over the internet, sells the peacock feathers his grandmother makes to tourists at Mumbai's Hanging Gardens.

He was eight when he started selling feathers and could not speak English. In a few years Ravi could rattle off a sale in more languages and with a faster tongue and sharper accent. He's full of fun facts too, such as the seasons in which various nationalities prefer to travel. Spaniards and Italians he says, love to visit Mumbai in the monsoon.
He never went to school or any tutor for learning the languages. It was only by talking to the tourist people who come to the spot he could learn so many languages. He said that he didn't want to go to school, because there he could learn just English, whereas out on the street he's picked up 10 different tongues. Just for the sake of selling he started learning various languages and now he has acquired a great talent. He speaks the following languages -

• Spanish
• Chinese
• Japanese
• Russian
• German
• French
• Italian
• Arabic
• Iranian
• Israeli
• English
• Hindi

While it is amazing to watch this lad speak so many languages without any schooling, it is painful to see that his lifestyle has not improved a bit . He sells peacock feathers from the age of eight. He dines at a local shop. People look at him surprisingly when he speaks their language, some buy the feathers, others just go away. He gets a marginal profit of 10% if lucky. The stocks are piled up but the takers are less. His father wanted him to be educated but due to poor conditions he had to end up selling peacock feathers.
There may be some soul somewhere who may read about him and can change his life forever.