In the last post I talked about slums and high rises running
together in Mumbai. This post is kind of an extension to that but just with the
totally awesome views of an awesome Mumbai girl. so, people give a clap for Nikita Gupta. She is an awesome navi mumbai girl who
speaks way too much for her own good. Though she pretty much destroyed my
previous post, I being I am still going to post her views so as to get you all
good people a clear picture about what the field report is.
“So, let's get a few things clear first. Mumbai is like no other
city in India and it is the best, no other city has the magic that this city
has. Now talking about slums, I personally think that the slums in Mumbai are a
sham. The reason people live in these slums is because they are poor right? but
guess what they are not. Yet they live there. So, why do they do it? One
primary reason could be because they don't want to pay the bills. I am not
saying that all the people are fake and a sham, there are really poor people
too who actually cant afford a real house but due to the others, the real poor
people are shunned. Also another reason could be their business… begging! Yes,
they have made begging a business which is another reason that now we think
twice before giving any money to the poor because we have seen slum dog
millionaire. Also, for the people who say that the movie is an exaggeration or
simply not true, remember that there is no smoke without the fire.
Now coming to the redevelopment thing you talked about, you were
somewhat wrong there. The Bombay Municipal Corporation comes up with
redevelopment plans for the the poor all the time and the BMC gives the slum
dwellers a lot of facilities and options. It's just that these people refuse to
move or cooperate with the BMC. They don't want things to change and it's this
unwillingness which causes all the problems. For instance, there were times
when BMC made societies for slum dwellers and gave each family a house but a
few weeks later it was noticed that the people reconstructed the slums only to
give the houses on rent and just have an extra source of income then.
Bombay is very special place and makes this place so special is it
has people from all religions, states and all other kind of places. These
people need to work and sometimes they end up finding their place in a slum.
So, life is all perspective and you might think that they don't have basic
necessities but truth being told they have all they need to survive. For
example electricity, just because they don't get electricity the same way we
do, doesn't mean they don't have electricity. The word 'Jugaad' fits here
perfectly. Now for us living in a society with proper resources is the way of
life but from their perspective, living in slums with proper resources acquired
through improper means is the way of life they want. They are there by choice
and not because the society isolated them or the city ignored them. Because
trust me Mumbai is a city where the lines between rich are poor blur a very
good instance is public transport as mentioned in the previous post.
Believe me when i say this, nobody in this city is ever isolated.
It doesn't matter to people whether you are a millionaire or a slum dweller,
they will hep you in wither of the case with the same jest. So, that is my
opinion(rant really).
PS. I am not saying that it is JUST a sham, I am just trying to
show everyone the other side of the same coin that exists.
That's is what Nikita thinks, if you ever want to ask her about
something feel free to contact her at,
Nikki08gupta@gmail.com
In the end I would really just like to say thanks to her, for
helping me out and giving her time. You rock Nikita.
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