In this relatively well off slum in India, there’s a whole
lot of despair, but a surprising amount of hope. Upward mobility is the only
hope, and a job as menial as a waiter or a chauffer is a major improvement from
ramshackle huts. It’s not an easy life, with any jobs posing a risk of loss of
limbs or lungs. They live in a pool of pollution, but many see it as the price
for living so close to wealthy people, which gives them wealth. The waste of
the rich is used as they’re income, recycling it to wholesale scrappers for a
pitiful sum. Abdul and his family are on the up and up, about to move to a farmland
of sorts to escape the garbage they live in. In Annawadi, as in the whole of
India, there is a huge divide between Hindus and Muslims, which leads to social
and political strife.
This first
section, including the dramatic and exciting prologue, is really in intro into
the life of Abdul and his family. The author is effectively trying to get us in
the mind of Abdul, to understand his and his family’s decisions. Life is a struggle
for them, and it’s not as easy as our suburban middle class life, as I believe
Boo is trying to show us. These people thrive off of waste and garbage, they
live off a small wage, but the hope they have gets them through it all.
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