Toronto: “The entire experience was humbling,” says Sharmila Tagore after encountering a 12-year-old Ugandan AIDS orphan who was bringing up her five siblings. Actress
and head of the Indian Censor Board Sharmila Tagore is also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Children’s Fund. During her address at the 16th International Aids Conference at Toronto, Sharmila also called on governments across the world to listen to young people and help them fight AIDS.
“I wasn’t prepared for what I saw,” Tagore sighed as she recounted the tale of Alice who had lost her parents five years ago and had to bring up her siblings all alone. Tagore also saw that the place had no electricity and water
and how the children were unprotected from the varagies of life. "That completely humbled me,” says Tagore
who also remembered a young HIV positive lad, who adored her husband, legendary Indian cricket captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi. “My husband stopped playing cricket 30 years ago but this boy knew everything about him,”says Tagore. “We don’t take children very seriously, we are very dismissive of the younger lot as we beleive that they just watch MTV and are not serious, but they are,”she adds.
