Standing between her mother and grandfather, this little girl from a small village called Edulabad near Hyderabad had just returned from school. As she listened to her mother, she began biting her nails, and her worn-out plastic bangles slid down to her forearm. I sensed an innocence that every young child carries within—ignorant of all the evil in the world. This was one of my first large artworks, created purely with charcoal. It inspired me to portray many more children, as I wanted to capture their pure, untainted emotions.