The five-hour drive from Coimbatore to Munnar through the picturesque ghats could have been a visual treat but for the brief meeting with Mithailal Tikri at a tea shop, just half an hour into the journey.
Ten-year-old Mithai is mopping the floors at the shop and runs to take the order as the owner barks at him.
His torn trousers and dirty shirt are perhaps good enough reasons why the tea shop is empty even though the tourist season is just about peaking.
After all, health-conscious tourists would barely like to be served tea by "unhygienic" child labour.
Text: Shyamal Majumdar
Image:A young Indian boy picks up rags and other waste materials for recycling in Srinagar | Photograph: Rouf Bhat/AFP/Getty Images
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