Meet the world’s largest family of ten suffering with the rare condition of albinism.
Roseturai Pullan, 50, his wife Mani, 45, and their six children, grandson and son in law were all born with the genetic skin condition.
They have overcome years of hardships and now, they’re awaiting official recognition of their status with a Guinness World Record.
The family all has pale skin, white hair and poor vision, a side effect of being albino, and live in a one-bedroom flat in Delhi, India.
"Even though we’re born and bred Indian, people call us 'angrez', which means 'English'," Roseturai said. "We don’t know much about our condition, only that we can't see properly, and we can't sit under the sun for long."
As they sit huddled together eating their dinner, this family remain unaware of their extraordinary lives.
Roseturai and Mani have been married for 29 years after their parents organized an arranged marriage.
They moved from Tamil Nadu in southern India to the capital for a better life.
He said: "Our parents thought it best we marry as we were 'the same'. In South India we were told if you marry a person with albinism it signals good luck and riches. That hasn't happened to us yet.
"We had a very tough life, especially in the South where people thought we had a disease and treated us like outsiders."
Neither Mani nor her husband had consulted a doctor before they met so neither had any idea they’d have children with albinism too.
Mani admits she went to hospital for a hysterectomy after her first child was born, determined not to bring any more albinos into the world.
She said: "I didn't want my children to suffer as we did, but the doctor got scared just looking at me and sent me home. I never went back and have had many children, all with albinism. Now I see it as a gift from god."
Sons Vijay, 25, Shankar, 24 and Ramkishan, 19, and daughters Renu, 23, Deepa, 21 and Pooja, 18, inherited their albinism.
Renu wed another albino Rosheh, 27, and their two-year-old son Dharamraj also has the condition.
"It’s hard living as we do in a country like India, but we’re still happy," Mani added. "We’re a very close and loving family. We make the most of what we’ve got."
Roseturai earns 2500 Rupees a month on an egg stall, while all of the children have done well at their school for the blind. But they’ve already accepted that their sight problems will prevent them from ever securing good jobs.
Oldest son Vijay says: "I’m qualified to work with computers, I loved studying them at college, but my vision means a job is hard to find."
Vijay is hoping to marry soon. "I think it’s easier if I marry a girl with the same condition as me. I just need to find her, and afford her."
Officials from the Guinness Book of Records are now planning to recognize their record.
Roseturai said: "It’d be great if Guinness came to visit and people came to know about us. We’re a great family so it’d be nice for people to know who we are."
A spokesperson from Guinness World Records says: "We’re really happy to hear about this family and our record management team is now aware of them. We’ll soon get in touch with them but we always encourage people to make a claim on our website if they think they have a record."
The current holders of the title ‘World’s largest family with Albinism’ live in the USA. George and Minnie Sesler have four sons with albinism. Plus Mario and Angie Gaulin, from Canada, have four sons with Albinism.