Man Bites ‘Slumdog’

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I started hanging around the offices of an English weekly newspaper in Ranchi. Its publisher and editor, an idealistic lawyer-cum-journalist named N. N. Sengupta, hired me as a copy boy and proofreader for the equivalent of about $4 a month. It was there that I met Dilip Ganguly, a dogged and ambitious reporter who was visiting from New Delhi. He came to know that I was living in a slum, suffering from duodenal ulcers. One night he dropped by the office after work and found me visibly ill. He invited me to New Delhi. I said goodbye to my slum friends the next day and headed for the city with him.

In New Delhi I practiced my English on anyone who would listen. I eventually landed an unpaid internship at a small English-language daily. I was delirious with joy. I spent all my waking hours at the paper, and after six months I got a paying job. I moved up from there to bigger newspapers and better assignments. While touring America on a fellowship, I dropped in at NEWSWEEK and soon was hired. That was 25 years ago.

My home now is a modest rented apartment in a gated community in New Delhi. I try to keep in touch with friends from the past. Some are dead; others are alcoholics, and a few have even made good lives for themselves. I've met former slum dwellers who broke out of the cage against odds that were far worse than I faced. Still, most slum dwellers never escape. Neither do their kids. No one wants to watch a movie about that. "Slumdog" was a hit because it throbs with excitement, hope and positive energy. But remember an ugly fact: slums exist, in large part, because they're allowed to exist. Slumdogs aren't the only ones whose minds need to be opened up.

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Posted By: HypatiaRemembered @ 03/20/2009 3:08:49 PM

I just want to say this was PERFECT! Thanks for this from a slum escapee...
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Posted By: Kidapoor @ 03/09/2009 10:43:28 AM

A truly evocative and truthfull summary of the terrible conditions in a massively overpopulated country.Having travelled India extensively it is without doubt an amazing place to be.The poverty however is also a sad reflection on all across our globe.We see poverty in many continents and many many charities send millions to help,however the root cause needs addressing to solve poverty.This root cause in my opinion is to encourage us to embrace our fellow humans regardless of race ,colour or creed,regardless of class,status or wealth and share the resources our planet has to offer to all who need it.
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Posted By: rhubarb @ 03/06/2009 6:24:32 PM

This is telling it exactly how it is. Is there hope. Well certainly thinking money drifts downwards is nonsense. Money drifts only upwards contrary to logic. So the answer is the poor must make their voice heard and that is the hard part. Recently I found some pictures of London in Victorian times and they were of dire poverty. Remember Dickens but something changed. India is incredibly complacent. Endlessly you hear well what can I do? Well teach someone to read for a start.I am teaching a woman to read at the moment and her husband does not like it but hey I might end up teaching him to read to. As you can see from this article little acts of kindness that don't cost often make a huge difference. But I will say it again Indians need to stop being so complacient.