Behind the Beautiful Forevers

It is January 2008. Abdul’s mother wakes him early in the morning, and he begins a long day of garbage sorting while other Annawadians are standing in line for the public toilets and beginning their workdays, which involve serving businesses, scavenging, or begging from tourists along Airport Road.

Annawadi was established in 1991, when laborers repairing a runway at the airport decided to stay nearby in hope of more job opportunities. The land was once considered too wet to be inhabitable, but the laborers from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu worked the land until it was livable and more people joined them. In 2008 Annawadi is not considered poor when compared to the rest of India; not everyone eats weeds, and the nearby airport and hotels provide a number of business opportunities—particularly for a garbage trader.

Abdul overhears his brother Mirchi, a ninth-grade student, talk to his friend Rahul about his new job at the Intercontinental Hotel. Rahul’s mother, Asha, is connected to local politicians through the Shiv Sena party, which is made up mainly of Hindus from Maharashtra. Rahul talks about the Bollywood crowd he served at the hotel, and the boys listen in amazement. It becomes clear that Abdul is the breadwinner for now, but the Husains have pinned their hopes on Mirchi, whose education they believe will eliminate the discrimination they experience for being Muslim.

At six in the evening, the garbage sorting finally complete, Abdul hauls the waste through the streets of Mumbai in his three-wheeled jalopy. Due to his dedication and single-mindedness, Abdul has earned good money for the Husains, enough that they will soon be able to put down a deposit on a small plot of land in Vasai, a nearby village where there are more Muslims.

Asha Waghekar, a 39-year-old from Maharashtra, aspires to be the new slumlord of Annawadi, since the previous slumlord has gone “batty and pious” (17). Not content to sort trash or subsist like her neighbors, Asha sees an opportunity to raise her overall status by working with local politicians and police officers to keep the slum in control. Asha supports and receives kickbacks from Shiv Sena politicians. In particular, she has received the patronage of the Corporator, Subhash Sawant.

Asha’s husband is a drunk, and she has had to take her future into her own hands. A kindergarten teacher by trade (although she possesses only a seventh-grade education), Asha now takes on the problems of her neighbors—which is to say, neighbors bring her problems, and Asha finds a way to help them (if it will benefit her financially) or not help them (if no immediate financial benefit for herself is possible). Supplicants line up in front of her hut to ask for advice or help. One of these is Mr. Kamble, who was laid off from his job because of a bad heart valve. After surgery, he could return to his job—but he needs a loan to afford the surgery. Asha advises him to go to the temple to pray, which serves as an invitation for him to return only when he has better financial terms for his proposal. This angers Asha’s daughter Manju, who overhears her mother’s advice. Manju is on track to become the first girl from Annawadi to obtain a college degree. She has always respected Mr. Kamble and believes her mother has treated him unfairly. However, Asha’s shrewd business sense is what enabled her to fund Manju’s college education, which they hope will elevate the family into the middle class.

Asha’s long-term goal is to become the Corporator of Ward 76, a position made possible by progressive politics in India and an eagerness to introduce more women into the legislative process.

In February 2008 gangs of Maharashtrians are seeking out migrants from the north for random beatings—and the Husains are a family of migrants. Too scared to be seen on the maidan (the open area of the slum), Abdul hides during the day and is unable to work until the riots have stopped. A new political party, a rival of Shiv Sena, incited the riots. To make up for Abdul’s lost income during this time, the Husain family rents out a tiny space in their small hut to another family—but when that family comes on hard times and isn’t able to pay the rent, Zehrunisa evicts them, saying she has to worry about her own family’s prosperity.

The text turns to Sunil Sharma, a 12-year-old scavenger who spent time in the Handmaids of the Blessed Trinity orphanage until he was kicked out for being too old. Sunil is not actually an orphan, although he might as well be; his mother is dead and his father drinks all the profits from any job he manages to get. Sunil is also in charge of his younger sister Sunita and takes this responsibility seriously.

Sunil has recently begun to worry about his stunted growth, which he figures is the result of not having enough to eat. He watches Abdul, whom he considers the hardest-working person in Annawadi. Sunil figures that he will have to become a better scavenger if he is going to survive, so he learns how to navigate the areas around the Mumbai airport. From Airport Road, only the cooking fires of Annawadi can be seen; a concrete wall covered with colorful advertisements hides the rest. The largest of these advertisements is for a tile company that boasts BEAUTIFUL FOREVER in repeating script. When he ventures beyond the walls of these Beautiful Forevers, Sunil discovers a system of scavenging that leaves very little profit for himself. He encounters waste-pickers armed with knives to guard their particular territory, others who wait for Sunil to gather waste and then rob him, and professional janitorial companies paid to keep the area clean for an increasingly global clientele. Annawadi’s police officers tend to allow the scavengers to operate—but only for a cut of the profits. Sunil discovers a small, treacherous ledge above the Mithi River, where he manages to collect the bottles and cans that are pushed onto the ledge by the force of the current.

Sunil also befriends Kalu, a waste-picker who relies on Eraz-ex, a brand of whiteout, which can be found in the trash around Mumbai’s office buildings. When mixed with spit and sniffed from a rag, Eraz-ex provides a cheap high. Kalu, known for his impressions of Bollywood actors, is entertaining but takes so many risks that he is predicted to have a short life. Kalu enlists Sunil’s help for a theft operation that proves profitable; Sunil is able to fill his belly and pay admission into a Will Smith movie that he only half understands.

In the spring the Corporator, Asha’s patron, is accused of electoral fraud; he passed himself off as a low-caste candidate and was elected to office in a position reserved for low-caste candidates. However, an actual low-caste candidate brought allegations against the Corporator, who is now forced to visit the slums to regain the support of his constituents. He asks Asha to assemble a large group in the temple to pray for his victory in court. Although she is worried that many will not attend because children are studying for their finals, Asha complies. When the Corporator is delayed, the crowd grows restless. Finally, Asha has Manju serve the food she has prepared. When a hijra (called a eunuch in India, but more like a transgender person in the Western world) stops by to perform an impressive dance, the crowd is thrilled. The Corporator eventually calls Asha to explain that he will not be able to attend, but Asha still comes off as a winner because the crowd is so pleased by the eunuch’s performance.

Manju attends college in the mornings and in the afternoon runs the slum’s only school from her family’s hut. For school, Manju does not actually have to read any texts; she simply has to memorize summaries of literary works. Currently, she is memorizing the plot of The Way of the World. Manju speaks some of the best English in Annawadi, an important skill for jobs in the service industry. She has different motivations for success than Asha, who is only concerned with money and status. Manju is modest, decent, and often ashamed of her mother—and the ways her mother obtains money.

Manju teaches the English she learns in school to her students in the hut-school, a job Asha believes her daughter takes far too seriously. Asha, who is supposed to be teaching the school, thinks it is unnecessary for Manju to teach when no supervisor is checking on her.