Life, death and hope in Mumbai's underbelly

Katherine Boa's poignant and we/I-written book explores the varied lives of dwellers in the Annawadi slum

of our lives to poor drudges underground , blackened to tl1eir eres, with t.l1e.ir t hroats full of coal dust "

Katherine Bo o, a staff writer

What is i t about Mumbai that invites such ground -breaking and b rillian t works of non- fiction?

From Sukecu Mehta's amb itious wo r k Maxiv111m Ci!)'; to Sonia Faleiro's study of Mumbai's red light district in her book Bea11t!Jiil Thing; now we have a Pulitzer prize-winning author Kathe r ine Boo's just published book on a M wnbai s lum, Behind the Bea11tif11/ Fore11m· It is a landmark work of ' n arrative non -fiction' that tells th e dramatic and sometimes heartbreaking stories of families striving cowards a better life in Mumbai. ln th.is brilliantl y written, fast- paced book based o n aLnost fo ur years of research and uncompro misi ng reporting, author Katherine Boo brings to life some of tl1e residents of Annawadi, a ma keshift settlemen t in the shadow of luxur y hotels near the Sahar airport. This book is written in such a way that w hile it is acn1ally reportage, it reads li.ke a riveting novel as Boo makes the charac ters come alive with her delightful prose and superb sense of drama.

One o f the b ook's endearing characters is Abdul Husain, a refuse-soning worker whose family are migrants from Uttar Pradesh. He is a reflective and e n terprising teenager w h o sees 'a fo r t Lm e beyo n d counting' in the recyclable garbage that r ic her people throw away; his mother Zahmwussa is an indomitable character w ho finds strength fro m God -knowswhere to hold her family together u nder the most crnshing o f circumstances. Then there is Asha, tl1e teache r from Vida rbha who is determin ed to lift herself a nd her famil y out of poverty by any means she can - she is not above using her charms and her body to forge contacts with the local Shiv Sena pollie s o r the Sahar police - co become th e 'slum lord' of Anm1wadi, and failing even that, co use the money given for the ed ucation of the m ost m arginalised children to feather her own nest. \Xlich a little luck, her sen sitive , beautiful daughter l'vla n ju , A n11awadi's ' most-everythin g girl' will soon become ics first female college graduate And even the poorest Annawadians like Kalu, a 15-year- o ld scrap- metal chief, believe they are inc hi n g closer to tl1e good lives and good times they caU 'the f ull enjoy'.

Abdul's precocious refusesorting skills rake in a not-too-