Gypsynan

I watched “born into the brothels last night, on TV. I would like to exclude the angle of - third world poverty exploitation – glorification of the white savior issue, and focus on how it felt. May be poor Indians will only find a voice in white run media – middle class Indian media has divorced themselves and retreated to Neverland.

Most of all it seemed so utterly familiar – college street after all is a few steps away from Haarkaata goli.

And how heartbreakingly familiar the children were, how normal. If they were interviewed for a news channel and asked about their views on something random, like Durga puja – they would sound like any normal lower/middle class kid in Bengali medium school. That is the one thing that strikes me about street kids – how bright they all seem to be. There was this kid who sold newspapers at Worli naaka. He had asked me for a lift in the car one rainy afternoon, in Dadar. I don’t think he expected me to say yes. And he told me an elaborate, articulate, self important story about how he goes to school and takes care of his sisters. He was 8 or 9 and I knew he was lying. And that was heartbreaking too. But I respected him.

When people use big words and NGO jargon and talk about child rights and what not – we often forget how smart and good kids nice are left to fend for themselves in our streets. And if you see the North American kids - whiny, moronic, dissatisfied, slutty looking – the unfairness of life seems like a fresh new insight.

Its important to see one's own world from a fresh new angle. Get out of the comfort zone.
It wasn’t a depressing movie – watch it.