It is written, in the slums Precarious explanations in darkened halls By Cecil Pinto
Last week I watched the award winning "Slumdog Millionaire" with my wife. Not from a pirated DVD but in an air-conditioned cinema with surround sound. At Intermission time I turned to Beatrice to find she had a frown on her face. "What a stupid movie, making fun of India and it's poor!" she exclaimed. I tried to convince her that it was an interesting story well told, but she felt that it was all hype and no substance. Two days later I took my nine year old son for the Hindi (U/A) version as he is a huge fan of Kaun Banega Crorepati - and of Amitabh Bachchan. Desmond has also been attending Catechism classes in preparation for his First Holy Communion and is struggling with concepts of Bad, Good, Sin and Truth.. Please see the movie before you read further. "Dada why is the policeman hitting him?" "They want to find out if he cheated and answered the questions?" "So why they are hitting him. Can't they do investigation?" "For police in India this is investigation!" As the story proceeded I explained in whispers to Desmond that Jamal was able to answer all the questions because coincidentally he had had real life experiences that gave him the answers. Desmond had no difficulty in believing this. I think as adults we get a bit skeptic in matters of fate and chance. "Why are the police chasing them Dada? They are just playing cricket." "That's what happens when you live in a slum and play cricket on an airport" "What's a slum, Dada?" "You know the hutments where our maid Saira lives? Something like that, but as you can see so many thousand times bigger" "Yuck Dada! Jamal jumped into kaka!" "For a chance to meet Amitabh Bachchan." "Ok! Then it's worth it." "Dada, Anil Kapoor said Jamal was illiterate. But here they're showing him attending school." "You will see that soon afterwards he has to drop out of school. And how much can you learn in a classroom crowded with fifty other students?" "Dada, Jeff has sixty students in his class and you said it was a good school where you are going to put me next…" 'Ok! Ok! Concentrate on the movie!" "What's happening Dada?" "That's a mob son, and that's a religious riot" "But why are they hitting and burning and killing those people?" "Because they are Muslims." "Did the Muslims do a bad thing Dada?" "No Desmond. Those people attacking them are the bad people. Their God will punish them?" "What you mean their God? Father said there is only one God." "Father is right too. Each of us has our own God who punishes or rewards us. So there actually are no bad Hindus or Muslims or Catholics. Only good people and bad people. Those are not Hindus. They are just bad people!" "But they killed Jamal's mother!" "Don't worry. Salim will take care of his younger brother the way you would take care of Fabian if anything happened to us." "Godpa and Godma are Godparents for that no? Dada why do they refer to themselves and Latika as The Three Musketeers?" "That's a famous book where close friends stuck together saying - One for all and all for one!" "But Salim let go of Latika's hand in the train scene. So he's not a real musketeer. And since I am the elder brother I become Salim - and I don't want to be Salim." "Ok from now on you are Jamal" "Then what does Fabian become?" "Fabian is not there in this story. Ok?" "Ok!" "Dada, they are cheating those tourists. That is a sin no?" "Yes, but they are doing it just to make a basic living so it is somewhat justifiable. When you cheat the poor to accumulate wealth for yourself that's when it's a sin." "Really Dada? But Father said…" "Ok! Ok! Father is right. You are right. They are sinners." "Why they are teaching Latika to dance?" "Some men will pay a lot of money to dance with Latika" "Stupid men!" "Yes, stupid men." "Dada why that Anil Kapoor gave Jamal a wrong answer to the question?" "He is jealous of Jamal's success and wants all the attention for himself. He also got Jamal arrested." "Amitabh Bachchan would never have done that." "It's just a character in a movie Desmond" "Even then, Amitabh Bachchan would never do something like that! And Dada if Salim was going to get killed then why did he fill the bathtub with thousand rupee notes?" "He just wanted to be dramatic." "But Dada there were more than ten thousand notes there?" "Possibly, yes." "So Salim had one crore lying around by being a bad fellow, and Jamal who is a good fellow gets hammered by the police." "Yes but see Salim was shot to death in the end. Besides Jamal got Latika." "But Salim was shot by other bad fellows, and he danced with Latika before Jamal, and …" "Ok! Ok! Sometime crime does pay but only in the short term. And don't tell me what Father said!" "What did Salim say while dying?" "The takbir, Allahu Akbar means 'God is great'. Despite living a bad life while dying Salim made his peace with God. For a Hindu saying 'Hey Ram' is similar. It is an acceptance of God and good, and a freedom from evil." "So it's ok to be a sinner if you say God is great before dying?" "No, no! But it's like Confession. You get a chance to express regret for your sins." "So maybe all the bad guys should go for Confession, or say 'Allahu Akbar' or 'Hey Ram' and then go on and live good lives and not sin any more." "That would be ideal Desmond. Unfortunately they don't do that. Instead they stand for elections again." --------- The column above appeared in Gomantak Times dated 12th February 2009 =====