Heart of the People

In 'Oprah's Next Chapter', the first in the series on Oprah Travels to India was an entire episode showcasing her visit to my Mumbai. Oprah visited the slums, had an elaborate meal in the epitome of the joint family system, graced the Bachans home and was one of the select few to see Beti B and finally experienced the glitz and glamor of Bollywood and mingled with the billionaires of India. In her visit to the slums, I appreciated when she said she did not want to touch on the poverty, instead wanted to get a sense of the ‘Heart of the People’.

Ever since the show aired and actually over the past seven years that I have lived in the United States, I have been asked countless  questions about India: the people, the paradox, the slums, the caste system and of course Bollywood. I feel we are mini ambassadors to our country and have to constantly balance between the truth and showing the world what India is all about. I appreciate a curious mind and am always fascinated when I come across people who know more about the Indian culture than I would know at times.  I have fielded constant questions on the caste system and tell people how it was first formed for division of labor but it did and does exist very subtly today and is similar in many ways to the underlying racism that exists. There was a time when my claws came out to someone who was the biggest fan of Glee and attacked Bollywood for its song and dance sequences :).

Yes, India is a paradox and we are sometimes a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I cannot put a finger on one thing and say this is what we are and this is who we are. We are like the spices in our food, each of us different and unique but when we come together, we make one lean mean curry. We are as colorful as the colors that adorn us and have a common thread running through us.

It was heartwarming when Oprah said she was in the slums to get to know the ‘Heart of the people’. She did manage to get the pulse of the people and made me choke when the father of the slum she visited started crying.

After watching that episode, I couldn’t help but go back in time probably around 25 years ago. In India, most of us have at least one maid who comes in and does the basic household stuff once a day. Our maid, who was there with us since I was little, lived in the slums near my house. She invited us over to her house for Ganpati festival. I was a kid and barely remember how we made our way to their humble home. But, I do remember the warmth in their welcome and how their faces lit up to see us there and the one thing I will never forget is how they offered me my favorite cola drink – ‘Thums Up’! A ‘soft drink’ was so expensive back then and here were people who struggled to get water for the entire house went out of their way to get the ‘Thums up’. My dad insisted that we split just one bottle between us so that they do not feel let down and their pride would not be hurt. To me as a kid, it didn’t matter that we were in the slums in the middle of nowhere but the love and the sincerity that came with the Thums Up was priceless.

Till this date, when I have a rare treat of the Indian store bought Thums Up in America, it always humbles me and I reminisce the time I had the Thums Up in the slums of Mumbai, bought from hard earned money but most importantly with a lot of love from the 'Heart of my People’.