The Real Slum Shady A big social problem related to a huge country: India
What do we really know about India? In particular about slums? The book world and cinema tried to open a door from India to the rest of the world, but instead of the economical side, to the social one.
A small poll organised in Kaplan school, Manchester, shows that one in five people have already read a book called ‘Q and A’, conversely 100% of the interviewed had already seen the film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. The movie is a remake of the touching story of the book.
‘Q and A’ is about the story of an unknown Indian man, who participates in a television quiz called ‘The millionaire’. He answers all the questions in the correct way and he wins the prize.
Everybody thinks that he cheated, but through the development of the story, we discover the past of his life and his experiences are the reason why he can respond to all the questions.
The background of the story is India, especially the slums. The main character grows up in a huge and very dangerous village.
Through the eyes of the protagonist can we live and discover the difficulties that most of the people in this country suffer. The author can describe in a very moving way, the social problem of India and the lifestyle of the vast majority of the population.
This book helps us to introduce the problem of slums. According to different surveys it is said that the population, who are living in the slums will increase dramatically, it was estimated that over 2 billion people will live in these areas.
Q and A by Vikas Swarup was made into the successful film , Slumdog Millionnaire
The poverty of this area contradicts India’s data about the economy, in fact India is now considered a very rich country, although the vast majority of the population lives in poverty and dies everyday.
Kaplan’s poll has revealed that almost all the people would never live in a slum village, because it’s too dangerous and too poor.
Books like ‘Q and A’ are very worthwhile, because they can show a reality that could have been hidden by a wrong social system.