In India, Even Gods Are Going Hungry

Munapar's wife, Rukshana, pointed to their youngest, Mavis, a weak and gaunt-looking 5-year-old. "He wants milk and biscuits, but we don't have enough," she said. "If a child is feeling distress, the mother also feels the pain."

"In the village, we had food," Munapar said, picking the flies off his children, who sat barefoot and listless in the heat. "But here, we can't plant. We can only buy. We know that others in India live comfortably. Meanwhile, we are suffering."

Victor Aguayo, the chief of child nutrition and development at UNICEF's New Delhi office, said the agency was investigating the full extent of the impact of price increases on children and women. Already, he said, officials know prices are escalating at rates they have never before seen.

Indian newspapers have been filled with headlines about the increases, especially for milk, since many Indians are vegetarians who depend on milk and its byproducts. At a roadside tea shop in the capital, Raju Kumar, 33, said his sales for milky chai have dropped by half in the past month, while the price of milk keeps rising.

"I feel sad because I can't give my children the bread and vegetables they dream of," sighed Kumar, a father of three, as he scooped cups of boiling milk into a pot filled with black tea.

At a hilltop temple in New Delhi, visitors headed inside for a 6:30 p.m. puja, during which the statue of a Hindu deity would be bathed in milk, sandalwood paste, water and honey. S. Shanti, 27, said she came to pray for a job in India's railway service.

With prices rising and a lack of work, she said, she had less to offer to the temple.

"How can we manage?" Shanti said, as she looked over at other worshipers bearing small baskets of bananas and coconuts. "God please grant my wishes. Things are so costly now. We need help."

Special correspondent Ria Sen contributed to this report.