Everybody in Annawadi talks like this-
oh, I will make my child a doctor, a lawyer,
and he will make us rich. It's vanity, nothing more.
Your little boat goes west and you congratulate
yourself, "What a navigator I am!" And then the
wind blows you east.
- Abdul's Father, Karam Husain
Dear members,
How are you enjoying "Behind the Beautiful Forevers?" One thing is for sure: there will be a very interesting discussion to look forward to in our upcoming meeting.
I happened to come across a great interview in which Book Browse provides an in-depth interview with author Katherine Boo about her book. To read this insightful interview, visit their website.
(Photo from Denver Post)
Recommendation Round:
Lauren had recently shared with us this really interesting clip about how books are made:
Watching this makes me realize that the process itself, is beautiful.
Take care!
Annawadi is a slum that blossoms in a few short years out of the tons of trash produced by the Mumbai international airport and its luxury hotels. Seen by the government as so many weeds to be uprooted, by politicians as objects to be exploited, by the police as a bottomless font for graft and bribes, Annawadi's 3000 residents have learned to survive on little more than rats, waste water, and the scavenging and sorting of what India's new rich are stupid enough to toss away.
ReplyDeleteEach individual here clings fast to his or her own microscopic dream. We meet one-legged Fatima, who longs to be loved and desired despite her disability; Abdul the garbage entrepreneur; Asha, a rising star in slum politics who aligns herself with the ultra-nationalist Hindu party; her daughter Manju, who studies to become the slum's first female college graduate; Manju's best friend Meena, destined to be sold off by her abusive family as a teenage bride; Kalu, part homeless orphan, part Bollywood star; and many others.
These are real people who with their out-sized personalities and extraordinary histories seem plucked from a Dickens novel and transported across the world and 150 years into the future. The wide and deep capitalist exploitation that Karl Marx, a contemporary of Charles Dickens, witnessed while living in newly industrialized England is alive and well today. At the same time, economic growth provides the one great hope for these Indian slum-dwellers: Freedom from the old caste system, from the tyranny of starvation and of the miserable villages they left behind to flee to Mumbai, 500000 souls every day.