And I was sucked in. To a different world.. of a slumdog.
It captures an array of emotions through a traumatized childhood, exposes the viewer to the harshest realities of modern day India, and yet has a fantasy like ending. What I wonder is whether most of us living on greener pastures, will ever seriously contemplate that this kind of poverty is possible.
As the title suggests Slumdog Millionaire is a story of rags to riches, set in the slums and corruption of India. I will leave you to watch the movie and form your own opinion, but simply put, I found it to be brilliant. The movie managed to leave an overwhelmingly indelible effect on me. Especially the first few chapters of Jamal ‘the chaiwallah’s’ childhood. I teared as I remembered a boy I met in India sometime back while walking on the midst of a paddyfield. Yes, you read that correct :) I got the chance to travel all over northern India, and it was far from what I expected. The multitude of incidents one can achieve by traveling about India I believe is another story. But this boy..., I can still remember his face, better than all the faces of street children I photographed.
This particular place lied in the middle of a beautiful paddyfield around an area usually frequented by thousands of Sri Lankans each year, thus a lot of the beggar children knew Sinhala. We had to walk single file along the paddyfield for about half a kilometer and the kids appear from all over the forest skirts and come running along to ‘greet’ the foreigners. If you have been to India, you would know how street children behave, though these were more of a village version of street-children. It’s like they have their own school on how to beg&win and how to clam at foreigners. To be honest, it gets tiring and terrifying, coz they are not satisfied how much ever you try to give and they get gang up on you if they know you are vulnerable. Previous personal experience on this trip left me terrified of them as I got almost attacked by such a ‘mob’. So when our tour guide for the day told us to be careful on this particular journey through the paddyfield, I took note. We were further told that a lot of kids in the area spoke Sinhala very fluently upto the expertise that they could actually explain the place in Sinhala. I thought ‘yah right’. Little did I know.
So there we were walking along, the usual group of kids coming from behind and front with the same chant and facial expression. It’s depicted in exact in the movie. I fell behind a bit as I was stopping every once in awhile to take in the beautiful scenery unfolding. It was the greenest a paddyfield could be, and the dark mountains in the distance and the forest alongside, and the blueness of the sky was enough to just make you want to sit and stare around in awe. By this time of the trip, I had learned how to ignore the kids, and a lot of them realized I was more interested in clicking my camera, and moved towards the foreigners in front. As harsh as the ignoring part sounds, it’s a surviving skill. That’s how bad it can get.
When I realized I had fallen back I decided to quicken up a bit and I noticed this young boy looking around 17 years of age, weaving his way through the banks of the paddyfield. He ended up walking in front of me, and shooed away the young kids in front and behind me, telling them not to bother me. He said, ‘hello sister’. I lifted my ignorant focus from the ground in front, to his face and eyed him suspiciously. Also checked up on where the tour guide is upfront. Just in case. Walking singlefile along a narrow bank in the middle of paddyfied leaves you nowhere to run if the person infront of you tries anything. Dark in complexion, he was wearing an old yet clean baggy shirt that was buttoned loosely, and blue school shorts (just like in SL). The tour guide noticed him, and shouted something back to the boy in Hindi. And he replied right back and I don’t think the tourguide saw any harm. I didn’t either, though I was guarded. My reaction to his first hello was a mere glare so he tried again. “My name is Raj sister, don’t worry I wont harm you” He spoke my mind and I couldn’t help but slightly smile at his quite innocent and straight forward statement. I still didn’t speak. I had learned that it was trouble if you start speaking to the kids even out of curiousity, coz then they just wont leave you alone. He kept on trying. “sister, why are you ignoring me, I just want to talk. Mata salli epa, mama kemathi ne ekata”. I was surprised by the ease he said those words. He spoke perfect sinhala. He realized the sinhala worked, and he grinned at me.
Raj - oya ai surprise wela, mata hondata sinhala puluwan. (why are you surpised, I can speak sinhala well )
Me- Silent awe.
Raj – baya wenna epa sister, mata oney oyath ekka katha karanna. Igena ganna. (don’t worry sister, I only want to talk with you. to learn)
I finally broke my silence at this and asked him “Why? you like sinhala?”
Raj- ai mata igena ganna oney? Mama kemathi wena languages igena ganna ( Why do I want to learn, I like learning other languages)
Thus, I started talking with him. Mostly in sinhala. All the way upto the place we were sightseeing and back. I learned that he learned sinhala from talking to the Sri Lankans who come there. And from some of the local guides who knows Sinhala there. He said it’s an easy language to learn. I learned that he was just about to finish school, and wants to study further, but he couldn’t afford it. When asked what he was going to do, he said he’s going to teach the village kids until he can save up some money. I asked him why they don’t bother to go to school, why they beg, when they have schools with teachers. He told me he tries, he tries to make them come to school, coz they are even given free food if they attend school. But it’s so much in the system that they prefer begging to school, they eat the food and go back to the street. Raj was wise for his age and society he grew up in. He knew the value of learning despite his surroundings.
He gave me a private tour guide almost, told me the historical significance of the area and a bit about his family. His father was a carpenter. They were struggling to make ends meet but he told he also contributed from working on weekends while schooling. Sold souvenirs to foreigners on the street. Taught kids. Ran errands. Then he asked me what and where I study. I was at a loss of words for a moment. He realized my sudden pause, gave me a wide eyed smile, and said, it’s okay sister I know we are different, don’t feel uncomfortable. ‘Different’ .. exact words he used. He was such a sweet honest kid. I almost found it unbelievable. I told him what I study and what I plan to do. It was such a refreshing moment, I wanted time to stand still. He wanted to study further, but he still wanted to become a teacher in the end. He was telling me how we always have to keep learning from everything :) It was almost like an advise. We also talked about the weather, the recent floods there. I told him it was too sunny today, he told me yes you might get dark sister, good that you are wearing the cap. It was an almost teasing yet again all in goodwill comment I was left to wonder yet again how to react.
As we reached towards the village huts again, he paused, backed away a bit and said “this is where we say goodbye sister thank you for talking with me”. Told me it was really nice meeting me and maybe we will meet again. I was stuck at what to say again. I smiled with him and told him that it was nice to meet him too, and to keep on studying no matter what. He smiled his white-toothed smile at me, along with his boyish attitude of hands casually stuck in his short-pockets and slightly bowed his head in goodbye. I walked the rest of the distance smiling at what just occurred. This sweet polite kid just made my day, gave me faith that honest extraordinary people still exist even in the most unsuspecting corners of the world.
Raj, thank you. I hope you always keep smiling that sincere smile even with the struggles of life to come your way. I only wish I took your address down.
This was the paddyfield >
:)
Posts
