Slumdog Millionaire

I've been in Mumbai before - and I remember the slums. It was on layover, my groggy face pressed against the quadruple pane of the airplane's oval window. My first glimpse of India in the early morning haze - corrugated metal stacked for living. I continued on to Dhaka. Nadi to Seoul, Seoul to Mumbai, Mumbai to Delhi, Delhi to Dhaka, the day I learned my love of flight has a 36 hour limit. But I remember the slums and their proximity to the airport. I remembered.

My real arrival to Mumbai was by bus. I hadn't meant it to be, but it was. It's last stop was just outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerly known as the Victoria Train Terminal. Shared a cap to the Salvation Army with a Georgia born who planned on touring the Dharavi Slum that afternoon. It's the largest in Asia, a once in a lifetime opportunity, she said. I nodded and gave a half smile, but - I don't tour slums.

In Rio, a tourist was shot on a favela tour while I was there. Why anyone would want to tour an area so obviously ruled by drug lords is beyond me. It was the first time I had ever heard of such a thing - tour operations, in slums - and where I made up my mind. I don't tour slums. The thought made me cringe then as it does now. Remember that question you'd bounce off your sister at the zoo? Who's watching who? It wasn't but 150 years ago when we would be on the other side of the bars. People aren't for display. I don't tour slums.

The same girl told me where I could watch the Slumdog now famous. The Regal - not five minutes from my dorm bed. I went excited and emerged dazed - and there they were. They've been there all along, but Mumbai has far more than anywhere else I've been in India. Blind, maimed, matted, and - most importantly - persistent. What does one do? I contemplate - after walking past the wanting hands - lying in a room whose window overlooks a palace. The Taj Mahal Palace and Tower - freshly painted. Who would have thought the city's cheapest and most expensive accommodation could be found on the same street? It's beautiful - the Taj. Fit for kings. On its street a man who will beg in the morning lies with rats. I remember learning that the health of a country can be measured by the size of the gap between the rich and the poor and the amount of people in it. Here, the gap is everything. It's the difference between a slumdog and a millionaire.