Beginning.
Visit to Dharavi, Asia's largest slum. Tiled floors complemented by satellite televisions… Asia's largest slum? Approached by no beggars, only small school children with smiles and beginning English phrases. Piles of cotton set burning, smoke filling the cleaned alleyways with hack-inducing smog. Toilets built as add-ons to the shanty homes -- they are set apart from the house, on top of the river, so everything that comes out of the human goes down to the water.
Middle.
Invited to an after-party at the apartment of a Bollywood producer. Not the home in which he lives, merely his apartment where he throws parties. Pool table, chandeliers, countless bottles of Grey Goose, Macallan, Patron. DJ Sammy spins tracks in the leather-accented living room and actors mingle with painters and writers in the foyer. The host has to venture downstairs to pay off the police, twice.
End.
Curled up in the private van on the way back to Pune. Tap, tap on the windows. Girl of about 15 years old, pressing her face against the window with a young baby pressed against her chest. Tap, tap. She motions to her mouth, gesturing for food, lifting the baby up to the car window. She is quickly joined by many others, surrounding the car, eyes pleading, hands gesturing. Tap, tap on the windows.
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