Material Girl looks for girl in India

Madonna

Mumbai, April 7: Madonna is preparing to adopt an Indian baby and wants a girl.

The 50-year-old singer is searching for the right tot from the right orphanage with help from Bollywood choreographer Sandip Soparrkar, who last year became the first single male in India to adopt a child.

Madonna and her family met Soparrkar last January during their Indian vacation.

“Her agents got in touch with me since she wanted to learn Latino dance moves while in India and I flew down to Jaipur where she was staying,” Soparrkar said.

“I had just adopted Arjun. He is two-and-a-half years old and I could not leave him behind. Madonna adored him and that’s when we got talking about adoptions.”

The singer and her film-maker husband Guy Ritchie have two children of their own: Lourdes, 11, and Rocco, 7. Inspired by Angelina Jolie’s multi-cultural brood, she began the process of adopting a male Malawian baby, David Banda, in October 2006.

The process is now in its final stages. Last week, Madonna was deemed a suitable mother by Malawian officials and it was recommended that David stay with the couple at their London home.

The diva, however, has abandoned her bid to also adopt an African girl, apparently because she grew frustrated with the process. So, encouraged by Soparrkar, she has chosen India.

“I told her how badly disadvantaged millions of orphaned children in India were,” said the choreographer, who has also taught dance moves to Shakira and Beyonce Knowles during their India trips.

British newspaper The Sun quoted a source on Monday as saying: “Madonna was very taken with Sandip. He told her there were orphans who would melt her heart. Guy was against the idea, but when she wants something she gets it.”

Madonna is expected to visit India later this year after her comeback tour, whose schedule is being worked out.

“She has a deep love for things Indian, from sporting a bindi to wearing mehendi on her hands to practising yoga. Adopting an Indian baby is an extension of that love,” Soparrkar said.

The singer and her husband are said to have gone through an expensive ayurvedic treatment in 2005 to conceive a child but failed.

Soparrkar is not revealing anything, but sources at the Bal Anand orphanage in Mumbai’s Chembur -- from where the choreographer had adopted Arjun -- say they have been sounded out.

A few orphanages in Pune, including the well-known Sassoon Hospital orphanage and the controversial Preet Mandir, have also been approached.

Preet Mandir and its satellite orphanage, Preeyadarshini, were last year accused of “abducting” children and giving them away to wealthy foreigners against hefty “donations”.

Soparrkar became the India spokesperson for the US-based NGO, The Miracle Foundation, last month on Madonna’s recommendations. The two of them had had a chat in Jaipur about upgrading Indian orphanages to global standards.

The Miracle Foundation, supported by Hollywood A-listers -- such as Beyonce, Shakira and Madonna all of whom have a Soparrkar connection -- seeks to raise orphan children in a family atmosphere with personal attention.

“Since I had visited quite a few orphanages in the country before adopting my son, The Miracle Foundation wanted me to serve as their spokesperson in India,” Soparrkar said.

“Even Madonna emailed me asking if I would be keen to be a part of the NGO. I was more than willing to help the cause,” Soparrkar said.

The NGO last month opened its first Indian orphanage in Hutar village of Khunti, about 25km from Ranchi. Madonna is expected to visit the home, which now has 37 children, during her next India trip.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080408/jsp/frontpage/story_9109387.jsp