The dramatic success of ‘Slumdog
Millionaire’ has brought a lime light to the slum tourism in India
which first began in Rio De Janeiro in 1992 and
has now found popularity in Buenos Aires, New Delhi, Mumbai, Nairobi
and Johannesburg. The supporters say that slum
tourism provides a way to unveil the lives of many who are aliens to
us and fan out tourist cash into our slums. But to critics this is
the worst kind of travel voyeurism which is a threat on the dignity
of the poor. Was the movie acceptable to show the shacked police
stations with blind children begging or was it a hope for the
depressed that happiness and hope is not the count of money, they can
be seen in the slums in plenty. Let us take both views in picture..
Views: “We discovered great riches
in our poverty”
Slum tourism not only adds to the
funds of our country but also humanize our slum dwellers. Through
this effort we get to know that the abstract things of these people
are all same to the other ones of the societies. The lives are like
hope and despair, bliss and regret, victory and failure and many
such more. The difference is that they do things more publicly than
other ones! All travel can be considered voyeuristic. When journals
intervene the lives of the celebrities, isn’t that voyeuristic? The
difference lies only in the reason. The slums are nosed for what they
don’t have and celebrities for what they have.. Why should we feel
shame of our own men if they are poor and put them out of sight? Our
economy is working for their welfare. How will the people on the
other side know that there exists a life beyond designer accessories,
a desire for more, achievement, littering resources and dying with a
balance for the next generation to achieve even more! To hear about
the ratio of the poor and to feel the life of that ratio is a big
different thing. Without knowing the grim condition how will anyone
change to Mother Teresa. It needs the heart to be stirred for the
cause which the slum tourism is trying to do if it is done with a
social responsibility and awareness not with an intention of mere
profit. The most popular slum sites are The black townships in South
Africa, slums in Mumbai, Favelas in Rio, natives in Bolivia and
villages in Cambodia. Slum tourism is promoted by travel companies to
reduce poverty and enable everyone to participate in the cause. It
increases the local economy of the developing countries and increase
the linkage between tourism businesses and poor people.
Counterviews:”25%
of Indians live on less than a dollar a day and 70% live on less than
two dollars a day!”
Such and many
more such mischievous headlines cover the news of the western media
newspapers which are not on correct analysis. A foreigner calling
our slum people ‘slumdogs’ ! What does a slum child feel when he
and a lot more amongst (who are running after the car of the visitor)
along with their dwellings are being snapshot? “oh wow,i’ll be
the cover page of the nation’s leading magazine!!” So sardonic
even to say that the dwellers of the slums are the ones who maintain
the skyscrapers denizens! The sentiments of the people are very thin
skinned and cannot be expected to be sensed by a foreigner. It seems
parallel to, watching the mental patients in a hospital, to gawking
at our slums for fun and exploitation! Don’t we have other things
to showcase rather than the slums? Ours is a family and the members
should be taken care of the mental trauma faced as exploitation. They
themselves are in dearth with empty bowels and pockets , then why to
vacate their possessions of dignity and self-respect? For our general
knowledge ?? Slum tourism should be restricted.
Conclusion: Poverty needs to be
wiped out or the slum dwellers will triple in 25 years. Economic
upliftment can do this. But we are concentrating in crafting strong
industrial base, shopping malls, housing for the middle class but
cheap projects are not in the building equation. Come on! People
live there, give birth to the similar destitute ones in the wretched
condition that is very indescribable and cannot be imagined by us
(who are on the other side of the story). The basic amenities are
lacking, people struggling from diseases with pigs and scavangers!
Why dint God made them animals too, if He had to give them such a
destitute life? There has to be something done. The difference has to
be brought in their lives, not ours. Slums do not have a conscience
of the national economy and status which will perk up their living
standards, they just want and deserve a better living. Whether slum
tourism be allowed or not , the difference has to be made in their
lives!!
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