Meet Tulsidas Cappuccino.
“I was born in India, and I came here when I was nine years old. My parents adopted 19 kids from 11 different countries, and they have two of their own, so there are 21 of us Cappuccinos running around, and 10 of us are in the Ottawa area. My parents also have nine orphanages overseas. They also adopted one of my biological brothers. I ended up in HIntonburg via Maxville, where I lived on a 100-acre farm with 16 of my siblings. I studied Farm Management Technology, and wanted to do wonderful things feeding the world. I completed two of the three years. I decided never to get my driver’s license to have a small carbon footprint, so I decided to move to a city because everything is here and I don’t need to drive. I lived in the Market area for a long time, then moved to the Dominican, and then moved back to Ottawa and to Hintonburg. I’m one of those guys who likes to live where I work, so after my brother bought into the Wellington Seafood, I started working there, and moved up the road.
“I love this neighbourhood. I love the openness, people are not judgmental, people know you, they know you are part of the community, they accept you and you accept them. I think it’s the greatest little town in Ottawa. It’s a fantastic area, and I have no problems walking around at night. It feels like I’m in the country.
“I came to Canada in November, from a brown country, brown people and brown land. I arrived in a white country where there was white people and white snow. India is hot and humid, plus 50C and here it was -5C or -10C. I didn’t know what minus was, or that there were languages like English and French.
“I am a survivalist. Being a survivalist and being privileged are two different things. Canada is a privileged society. Whatever you need, you got. Whereas in India you need something you have to go get it in order to survive. To go back to India would be a very emotional thing for me. To see those kids there, and know I was one of them would be very hard. That is my biggest challenge right now, to see if I could go back to India. I became a privileged child when I moved here.” Collected by Ellen Bond
Humans of Kitchissippi is a special street photography project designed to introduce readers to some of the people who live, work, and play in Kitchissippi. Each instalment of HOK contains three elements: a photo, a name, and a quote from the subject that reveals a little bit about who they are. View our collection of humans right here.