A chronicler of will
A chronicler of will
Pulitzer Prize winning author Katherine Boo explains why poverty in USA and India is more similar than we'd imagine
Despite having reported about the low-income group in the United States for over two decades, New Yorker staff writer and Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, chose to make a slum in Mumbai the subject of her first book. Released in February this year, Behind the Beautiful Forevers traces the journey of the Annawadi slum residents Abdul, Sunil, Kalu, Manju, and Asha and their will to move away from poverty.
The 48-year-old, whose special focus lies in social affairs, spent nearly four years in the rat-infested slum located in the shadow of the international airport at Andheri. The book has been cited as one of the best non-fiction works in recent times. "I didn't know enough when I started. I didn't know what it was going to be like. I only knew that I wanted to convey the enormous economic diversities that exist in Mumbai today," says Boo, talking to Mirror after the opening session of Day 1 at the Times Literary Carnival 2012 at Mehboob Studio in Bandra. Together with husband, author Sunil Khilnani, Boo discussed what it was like for the couple to live with one another's obsessions. Khilnani is the director of the King's College, London India Institute and author of The Idea of India.
Interestingly enough, the journey of Boo's book began with her meeting Khilnani a decade ago. While the two live in London now, they have been associated with Mumbai for as many years, and Boo's experiences are as diverse as any Mumbaikar's. "Ten years ago, I fell in love with an Indian man and gained a country. He urged me not to take it at face value," Boo wrote in the author's note for Behind... Neither the city's poverty nor disparity seemed unfamiliar to her. "I have written about poverty for many years In America. So, this wasn't like, 'Oh my god, (what I'm seeing here) is terrible'. I see them as people with families, who have children who are trying to improve their lives. I am never interested in looking at the terrible conditions in which people live. I want to know how they get out of it," she clarifies.
What also struck Boo was the economic disparity that was common to both, Mumbai and New York. "This kind of inequality is the problem of all the global cities around the world; it's not just Mumbai. In the modern, globalised age, more and more people don't have permanent jobs and are part of the informal economy," she says. "It is important to write about them, because people often think that they aren't trying, when the truth is that there are constraints. If you don't write about them, it looks like they've failed to educate themselves or are not pursuing opportunities."
Another common trait to such global cities as New Delhi and Washington, says Boo, was the fate of the money allotted to the poor. "The services that the people are getting are only on paper," she says, despondently. She carried out the same immersion and investigative journalism technique as she did in the States: Boo lived in the Mumbai slum, spent a great deal of time with the people she was writing about secured documentation and cross-checked accounts.
"I got to know them and followed them. I tried to find out whether they break out of poverty through education, work or as they have stated in the book, through corruption. I just didn't want to tell stories. I wanted to find out how the money in New Delhi reaches the people of the community, or if it's getting diverted, who's getting rich," she says.
After a small pause, Boo adds, "You have to live long enough in the community to see that there is tremendous will, drive and passion, but they are fighting very big odds. They are not just people sitting on their hands saying, 'Look at me, I am poor', but humans thinking, 'How do I improve my living?'"
That is the story Boo wants to tell, repeated ly. Another book is in the offing, but Boo says she won't divulge any more details. Her conversation, however, is littered with clues.
Despite having reported about the low-income group in the United States for over two decades, New Yorker staff writer and Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo, chose to make a slum in Mumbai the subject of her first book. Released in February this year, Behind the Beautiful Forevers traces the journey of the Annawadi slum residents Abdul, Sunil, Kalu, Manju, and Asha and their will to move away from poverty.
The 48-year-old, whose special focus lies in social affairs, spent nearly four years in the rat-infested slum located in the shadow of the international airport at Andheri. The book has been cited as one of the best non-fiction works in recent times. "I didn't know enough when I started. I didn't know what it was going to be like. I only knew that I wanted to convey the enormous economic diversities that exist in Mumbai today," says Boo, talking to Mirror after the opening session of Day 1 at the Times Literary Carnival 2012 at Mehboob Studio in Bandra. Together with husband, author Sunil Khilnani, Boo discussed what it was like for the couple to live with one another's obsessions. Khilnani is the director of the King's College, London India Institute and author of The Idea of India.
Interestingly enough, the journey of Boo's book began with her meeting Khilnani a decade ago. While the two live in London now, they have been associated with Mumbai for as many years, and Boo's experiences are as diverse as any Mumbaikar's. "Ten years ago, I fell in love with an Indian man and gained a country. He urged me not to take it at face value," Boo wrote in the author's note for Behind... Neither the city's poverty nor disparity seemed unfamiliar to her. "I have written about poverty for many years In America. So, this wasn't like, 'Oh my god, (what I'm seeing here) is terrible'. I see them as people with families, who have children who are trying to improve their lives. I am never interested in looking at the terrible conditions in which people live. I want to know how they get out of it," she clarifies.
What also struck Boo was the economic disparity that was common to both, Mumbai and New York. "This kind of inequality is the problem of all the global cities around the world; it's not just Mumbai. In the modern, globalised age, more and more people don't have permanent jobs and are part of the informal economy," she says. "It is important to write about them, because people often think that they aren't trying, when the truth is that there are constraints. If you don't write about them, it looks like they've failed to educate themselves or are not pursuing opportunities."
Another common trait to such global cities as New Delhi and Washington, says Boo, was the fate of the money allotted to the poor. "The services that the people are getting are only on paper," she says, despondently. She carried out the same immersion and investigative journalism technique as she did in the States: Boo lived in the Mumbai slum, spent a great deal of time with the people she was writing about secured documentation and cross-checked accounts.
"I got to know them and followed them. I tried to find out whether they break out of poverty through education, work or as they have stated in the book, through corruption. I just didn't want to tell stories. I wanted to find out how the money in New Delhi reaches the people of the community, or if it's getting diverted, who's getting rich," she says.
After a small pause, Boo adds, "You have to live long enough in the community to see that there is tremendous will, drive and passion, but they are fighting very big odds. They are not just people sitting on their hands saying, 'Look at me, I am poor', but humans thinking, 'How do I improve my living?'"
That is the story Boo wants to tell, repeated ly. Another book is in the offing, but Boo says she won't divulge any more details. Her conversation, however, is littered with clues.
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