Slumdog kids: Still rotting in the rut
By Bureau News, Gaea News NetworkThursday, May 14, 2009
He was on Oscar pedestal sometime ago but life is back to square one and worse for Mohammad Azharuddin in less than three months.
His shanty in Garib Nagar in Bandra, a Mumbai suburb, was torn down by the Brihanmumbai Mahanagar Palika (BMC) recently.
The young lad, who won accolades for his performance as Salim in the film, was seen among debris of his home. He was seen playing with a chicken among the debris.
The 10-year old just said, "I was sleeping when people came and broke down my house.The police chased us out of our house."
It was ironic as the boy came to Mumbai in a white Mercedes after winning at the Oscars only a few months ago. His luckier co-stars Anil Kapoor, Freida Pinto and Dev Patel have gone miles forward.
The film brought fame and good education to Azhar but also put his illegal house in focus.
Azhar’s mother said, "The municipality has been breaking down our house 10-15 times every year. They just come, run bulldozers over and break the place for no reason. We are illiterate and don’t know who to go to for justice. If we question the BMC, they chase us away and the police asks us for a fine of Rs 5,000. If we had a proper house to live in, why would we still live here and suffer? We don’t have any other place to live."
And that’s that. The real reality of the country we live in. Where all kinds of flash in the pan acts go down the drain.
