A climb up to a better tomorrow

A climb up to a better tomorrow

Rubina sleeps in the arms of a tree, wakes up to chirping birds and frolics in the branches. Her house — a little nest perched in the tree, sways with the wind. She walks through her door and slides right down to the lane below, looking up at the marvel her neighborhood has turned into. Colourful clothes hang around, drying in the sun and even they seem to skip along with her, sharing her glee. As evening approaches, and the lights gleam in the rooms, the whole place looks like it is ready for a Christmas party.

Mumbai has earned a new epithet — 'Slumbay'. While some call the slums an ugly blot on India's financial capital, its inhabitants call it home. More than half of Mumbai's population lives in these slums — a maze of three-feet-wide lanes, swarming gutters, shanty houses packed with people and pitiable fly-infested living conditions.

Now imagine if all the shacks in the slums were torn down and in its place, we planted trees and built tree houses. Besides adding to the existing panorama of the sea and beaches in this city, we'd have green and unconventional tree houses. Houses which need no evacuation during monsoon floods, where the poor can enjoy fresh, unpolluted air and a place that even Malabar Hill residents would envy.
This can be our long pending plan for green revolution. The government has been toying around with the idea of eradicating slums and building homes for decades now; this could be their stride to fame.

I toggle this idea in my mind, while I take Brownie for a walk along the slum lanes near my house. My mind is still lingering on the tree houses and that little girl, but my senses compel me to come back to the present as the stench clings to my nostrils. On most days, with a hardened heart, I would simply rebuff and walk away. But today, I choose to walk away with a dream, so that one day, reality will be better than the dream.