Submitted by: Professor Jay Singh

This post is a follow-up to Professor Carr’s Slumdog post immediately below (click here).

Not many non-Mumbaikars (non-residents of Mumbai) can even fathom a million people living in a square mile (530 acres). Yet Dharavi, Mumbai’s shadow city and the largest slum in Asia, is thriving with a contribution of 500 million dollars to India’s GDP. The financial capital of India that boasts arguably the world’s second most expensive office space at $190 per square foot and the world’s most expensive home at $1 billion is also home to the dubious attribution often referred to as ‘the largest slum in the world‘.

The recent sweep of the top five categories at the 14th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards and the Golden Globe Awards including the Best Picture of 2008, Slumdog Millionaire is a must see for all enrolled in GSB 563 (International Business Study Tour, Chindia trip) this year . It is presently showing 3 times a day at the Palm Theatre in San Luis Obispo. A heartwarming love story of an 18 year old orphan from the slums of Mumbai (hence ‘Slumdog’) who ends up winning the top prize on India’s ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ show. His journey to the grand prize is documented and includes suspicions raised by the game show host which end up inflicting inhuman torture by the law enforcement.

This film is highly recommended as a must-see to the GSB 563 students as it will provide a better understanding of what they will experience traveling through Mumbai. A few key queries they might want to explore via the movie and some on-line research questions are:

1. What are the reasons behind the unnaturally high population density at Dharavi?

2. What contributions to the Indian economy does this ‘largest slum in the world’ provide?

3. What has caused the Slumdog Millionaire to burst on to the movie scene in the US (1,000 additional screens opened within a week of screening at a modest 90+ screens in the US)?

What comes to mind when a not so well traveled, physically or mentally, American thinks of India? More than likely the soon-to-be most populous nation in the world, a third world nation, good command over spoken English albeit with an ‘Apu Nahasapeemapetilon Ph.D.’ accent, crazy motoring skills, cattle squatting in the middle of the busiest roads, the Taj Mahal and of course the technology niche constantly in the news.

What does a resident Indian think? Religion, cricket (should be included under religion), Bollywood, politics, holidays and festivals (24 Hinduism, 3 Sikhism, 1 Buddhism, 6 Islam, 3 Christian, 6 Jainism and 14 Zoroastrianism related as well as 7 national), terrorism (comparatively recently), mobile communication devices (and of course SMS), incomprehensible delays in traffic (primarily in larger cities), and of course the technology news amongst others.

As an aside, PBS launched what many are claiming to be the best documentary ever made on India last week in the US. In particular, check out the interactive photo gallery at their website to learn more.