The "Slumdog" Kids

If I could capture India in one thought it would be "an assault on the senses." India is a cacophony of intense sights, sounds, colors, smells, wealth and poverty all bombarding you at once.

People seem to fall into one of two camps about India, either they love it or they hate it. I love it. Yet at the same time it's one of the most heart wrenching places I've been and that's because of the impact of the severe poverty on children.

I recall one experience leaving a party for Mumbai's "who's who" that was held at the Taj Hotel (one of the two hotels attacked a few months ago), stepping out onto the sidewalk around midnight and being surrounded by children no more than five years old begging for a rupee or two.

If you've seen Slumdog Millionaire you'll know the kids that this post is about. It boggles my mind that these kids are still living in such conditions.

From The Huffington Post...

Ten-year-old Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail lives in a lean-to made of tarpaulins and blankets. Nine-year-old Rubina Ali's home is a tiny bubble-gum pink shack. A murky open sewer runs down her narrow lane.

Plucked from one of Mumbai's teeming slums to star in the Oscar-nominated hit "Slumdog Millionaire," they are India's real slumdog millionaires.

The filmmakers are helping the children, but fast discovering that good intentions and deep pockets don't guarantee success. Meanwhile, sudden fame and relative fortune are sowing resentment within the families and with neighbors, who wonder why their big-eyed boys weren't cast instead.