Fulbright-mtvU Fellows

Slumdog

It was the Oscar winning movie that couldn’t help but make the world fall in love. Given the success of Slumdog Millionaire, Dharavi was naturally my first foray into the vast slum life of this grand city. Even though I had already been working with slum kids at the Akanksha Centers, I thought it was important to explore their lives in the slum itself, to see firsthand where they came from and to understand their worlds. The Dharavi slum remains the largest slum in Asia, and with over 1 million people clustered in 1 square mile, it is the only slum that you can see from the moon. There are numerous tourist agencies that operate there and offer guided walks through the area. The tour guides explain that their mission is to show visitors that the slum is not filled with a lazy and apathetic people, but rather a hard-working community that collaborates to live another day. There are over 10,000 different industries in the slum, from the traditional pottery and textile industries to an increasingly large recycling industry that processes recyclable waste from other parts of Mumbai. Dharavi exports goods around the world, with the total turnover estimated to be around 650 million US Dollars per year. The men in the slums work 10 hour days, melting aluminum and plastic, without even masks to protect against the fumes. The women wash empty kerosene cans in boiling hot water from dawn until dusk, without gloves to shield them from burn. And they do this for a mere 150 to 200 rupees a day. To give you a first-hand sense of the disparity in Bombay, I was at a friend’s birthday party on Marine Drive where her Indian boyfriend bought the table a 21,000 rupee bottle of champagne. The bill for 6, which he covered, was over 100,000 rupees. In 2 hours. Sans food. Most people wouldn’t see that amount in their lives.
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Tags: Dharavi, Mumbai, Slumdog Millionaire

Be The Change

It wasn’t easy, but I’ve finally managed to set up a relatively normal life here. Although Mumbai represents craziness at its best, I am surprised by the level of organization and structure of the Akanksha Foundation, the main youth foundation I will be working with during my time here in India. With 33 after school centers and 2 full time schools, Akanksha has developed a specific curriculum and manual with which they want to instruct every child. They have programs that range from the basics of Math and English to social leadership and music. They help slum kids apply to universities, market their artwork to generate income for their families, and even teach them basic computer skills in partnership with SchoolNet. The soul of Akanksha is in Mahatma Ghandi’s mantra: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Akanksha changes the lives of children by showing them how to believe again through the art of imagination. They help the kids escape from their harsh realities in the slums, even for just a few hours a day or a week, to let them be children again. I visited with the centers and met with the children, volunteers and professors. It was assessment day, and the children were being tested on their progress through oral and written exams. I sat in on multiple assessments where the children were asked about current events and about what they had read or seen recently in the news. What was going on in their Mumbai? And you know the first thing the children spoke of? Music. They knew the latest Bollywood release, they spoke of Michael Jackson’s death, they quoted lyrics romanticizing their favorite songs. One little boy even broke out in dance and serenaded me with a Bollywood love song (it took all I had not to blush!).
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Tags: Akanksha Foundation, Bollywood, Katerina Kaif, Michael Jackson, Mumbai

Mumbai Meri Jaan

Namaste from India, and welcome to my Fulbright mtvU-blog! For the next 9 months, I will live in Mumbai and use this site to post videos, soundbites, photos, interviews, and updates on my project exploring Bollywood culture and its impacts and influences on underprivileged youth in Mumbai. As part of my project, I aim to coordinate with entertainment professionals at Rohit Roy Productions and the youth of the Akanksha Foundation to develop the theatre and drama program of the foundation and to create a Bollywood performance by the youth. My ultimate goal is to produce a documentary of the children’s journey, which will be screened at a fundraising gala that marks the 20^th anniversary of the Akanksha foundation’s efforts.

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Tags: Akanksha Foundation, Bollywood, Mumbai, Rohit Roy Productions