Article: The Shoeshine Boy, in Karma's Way; `Little Buddha' Gave Raju a Taste of the Good Life. But It Was Only a Movie.

Nine-year-old Raju and his big brother, Mantu, had a carefully choreographed scam they pulled on unsuspecting tourists.

The two boys would leave their home in the slums for the city's busiest market center, where they would target a well-shod Westerner on a stroll. The fleet-footed Mantu would sneak behind him and squirt shaving cream on the back of a shoe. Raju of the sweet face and big doelike eyes would step into the tourist's path, point to his shoes and say, "Hey, man, your shoes are dirty. I clean them." He'd then fleece the tourist at 10 times the going rate for a shoeshine, more if the guy looked rich and overly gullible.

Suresh "Baba" Varma, a movie production executive who ...

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