What is Real India? – Malls or Slums? Any Thoughts

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Real India After reading so much of written word on Slumdog Millionaire, I finally did watch it. There were endless debates that I had read before I saw the movie. Debating if this is poverty porn or if this is just showing the real India, which the few of us would like to shy away from. This post is not a review of the Oscar-winning movie. But my views on real India and the questions that I have pertaining to the same. I have had these views for some time now. And all the current debate just provided the required trigger for me to sit and write them down.

Real India

Media and to some extent travel industry tries to call the India that lives below the poverty line as real India. India that cheats, India that is ready to do anything to amuse a foreigner. And India which is supposedly suffering all the time is more often than not called real India. Without saying so, they say that the rest of India is unreal and though it may exist. You may not count it in India or lacks the so-called Indianness. This springs a few questions in my

This springs a few questions in my mind: Do the girls who were assaulted for drinking in a pub does not form the real India? I think most of them have never stepped out of India. Have lived within the confines of their families for the most part of their lives, have made their way through not so women-friendly atmosphere of this country. And have carved out a place for themselves where they feel independent enough to go out and do what men have been doing for ages and have never been punished. What makes them less Indian or what is unreal about them?

Are the busy executives and entrepreneurs who are creating and running businesses not real India? Today they may be zooming on Indian roads in their fancy cars, living out of suitcases and airports across the globe. But they have slogged their way through the same system which after all the liberalization still remains a difficult one to go through. Just because you can see only what they have earned for themselves and not the hard work that they have put through to get them, does it make them less real?

Taj Mahal

Are our film stars not for real? Just because we get to see only the well managed the glamorous image of theirs. We never get to realize the effort they have to put in to come on top of a highly competitive industry with no job guarantee, and no privacy, does it make them less real? They work as Indians, primarily for Indians, earn their livings from Indians and create the visual imagery of various shades of India both for us and for the world. What makes us feel they do not exist for real?

Are the kids working in our sprawling call center, not real India? These kids are slogging for hours. Doing some not so exciting work tirelessly at absolutely odd hours, something that does not come naturally to them and to their families. We may not like all their mannerisms, but they are as much Indians. They had the courage to put themselves into something that they had no idea about. The country had no precedence of and they are dealing with people they do not see and cultures that are completely unknown to them. And still, are raising the living standards of their families.

The politicians who are supposedly leading this country and are more often given the impression of being corrupt, power mongers and misleading instead of leading, are as much Indians. They thrive on their acceptability by the rest of Indians and incidentally are the official representatives of India. They are very much for real.

Yes, the poverty-laden India is also a part of India, as much as these small shining communities. While we should work on moving people from the first category to the second, we should not write down the second segment as unreal India. It is as much real India. A well educated global Indian who today has no inhibitions and wants to take on the world is as much Indian and represents a part of it.

Each one of us, are different threads that are woven together to make a fabric called India, and that fabric would not be complete without any of them. I do not like it when people feel I or people like me are not ‘Real India’. Like an old Daler Mehandi song, we are all different colors that make this colorful country, and without any of us, this place would be little less colorful.

Do not discard some colors because they are shining, but do work towards making sure that every color is bright and smiling. Economic conditions are not a complete indicator of the happiness, they do play a role and at times a pivotal one, but not hundred percent. Economic disparities exist in every society. Have existed ever since the humankind has existed and would continue to exist. We all need to learn to be happy regardless of where we are born and to whom we are born. And similarly, respect the existence of others as they are, and not judge them relative to your existence.

PS: My view on ‘Slumdog Millionaire’: It is just another movie, which picked up a lot of usual masala from our Hindi movies, is illogical at a lot of places like them. Establishes no identity for its characters, who switch from Bambaiya Hindi or accented English back n forth. While ‘Jai Ho’ may have brought Rehman a wider recognition. I think he has a body of work which is far better than this one. I love his haunting music in Dil Se, his folk-based songs in numerous movies. But then this is my personal opinion and am not someone who has seen too many movies to be able to criticize.

Beach Yoga & Woman with Goat Image – Source Shutterstock

7 COMMENTS

  1. Hi Anu,

    That’s a wonderful view on Real India.

    I do believe in last few lines of your view:

    “ …Economic disparities exist in every society, have existed ever since the human kind has existed and would continue to exist. We all need to learn to be Happy regardless of where we are born and to whom we are born, and similarly respect the existence of others as they are, and not judge them relative to your existence”

    As long as we know that fact and practice it wherever we are in the world, we will definitely live more peacefully and blissfully..

    Happy Living!

  2. Well said a very balanced view.

    The issue is , is any one really interested in balanced views.

    We still carry the socialist ghost on our shoulders where every rich man is assumed to be a sinner.

    We need to accept the real India as a coin with two sides , both being real and existing at same time.

  3. Well said a very balanced view.

    The issue is , is any one really interested in balanced views.

    We still carry the socialist ghost on our shoulders where every rich man is assumed to be a sinner.

    We need to accept the real India as a coin with two sides , both being real and existing at same time.

  4. Hi again! 🙂
    I am going throught your blog little by little!

    What you write here is very interesting.
    I wrote more or less the same things when I was reviewing “The white tiger” by Adiga.
    Westerner news and reviews said that finally “The white tiger” was THE book about “real India”.
    But, as you write, there is not ONE real India. And who decides what is real and what is not?

    So, I think it is impossibile to have a single book/movie about “real India”. Nor I think a movie/book must be “real”.

    The slumdog millionaire is just ONE movie, with a particular point of view.
    We should watch diverse movies (or read diverse books), with different points of view, to get an idea of a situation, of a country.

    Maybe I can add something about how this perception came out (in Europe, of course) and why some people said it’s “real” India.
    Up to now, for us westerner, India has been the land of yoga, peace, Gandhi, meditation, gurus, non-violent people. Or, in a more modern view, the land of IT.

    Now, new books or movies are showing a more violent side of India. In this sense some people said they are more “real”: because they presented a side that was not known to the public.

    One more thing about economic disparities. I do agree they exist in every societies and I believe economic wealth has nothing to do with happiness.
    However, I visited many countries in Asia, Africa and America and I think India is the one with more disparities. Or at least where very rich people live so close to very poor people.
    (by the way, India is my favourite country in the world, so do not take it as a criticism) :)))

  5. i think, in india,there are some things which really need to be criticise and some are to be appriciate like there is real love between families but unfortunately the limit of that love is only at their homes and with outsiders, there is no even humanity for them.
    yeah,this is my real india.

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