Abject poverty but Mumbai’s slums are rich in humanity

Nirpal Dhaliwal
23.01.09

Seeing the cruelty of slum life depicted in Slumdog Millionaire, viewers might imagine that today's India cannot possibly be so harsh — perhaps even that this movie is anti-Indian. They would be wrong on both counts.

When I visited Mumbai's Dharavi slum — the biggest in India — barefoot children played with sticks and bits of rubbish, beside streams of black filth running between shacks improvised from salvaged doors and scrap metal. Few of the hovels looked big enough to park a small car in, let alone raise a family. Rats crawled around in daylight. The stink was unbearable.

It was one of the most depressing yet most life-affirming experiences. I saw more smiles and humanity than I ever have in London. Bright fabrics hung from washing lines; every open door showed a room decorated with glossy religious pictures or Bollywood stars. People smiled whenever I caught their gaze. And, walking through one of the poorest places on earth, carrying enough money to change someone's life (about £60), I never felt afraid. I couldn't say that of many London neighbourhoods.

In Mumbai, 2.5 million children live in slums or on the streets; child labour is rife and 400,000 children work in prostitution. Viewers might think the scene in which a pimp blinds a child to beg more effectively is over the top. But last month, in Delhi, a shivering junkie clambered into my auto-rickshaw screeching for money, holding out the arm of a little boy he was carrying whose hand had been burnt into a stump. Progress has been made: 30 years ago, mutilated children were ubiquitous but during my six months there last year, I saw them only twice.

India's poor have a tremendous spirit and a great sense of humour that gives them immense resilience. That spirit is what I remember most and that is why Slumdog Millionaire, despite the horrors it shows, should be hailed as the feel-good movie of the year.

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