The feel-good film of the decade

Although we don’t have a television, we do try and watch a film once a week. This weekend we watched two but it was Rob’s choice for Sunday that has sparked my imagination. Rob chose Slumdog Millionaire which, as it says on the box, was The Feel-Good Film of the Decade back in 2009. Watching it always gives me a warm glow, despite the fact that I worry what happened to the child-actors and wonder whether being plucked from the slums to stardom has helped them. Putting that to one side, I can’t help but smile knowingly at some of the scenes. If you can’t go to India then surely watching this film is the next best thing – right down to the finale with the obligatory Bollywood song and dance routine – a genuine Indian film could not get away without one.

            Just in case you haven’t watched the film (or have forgotten its wonders) I’ve attached the clip where the boys ride the trains in search of food, comfort and Rupees. The trains are a major part of Indian life and for a while we travelled them, taking seats in the ordinary carriages.

            I will never forget our journey from Mumbai to Daman (Gujurat is a dry state and Daman offered the benefits of both beach and alcohol). We arrived at Mumbai’s Victoria station in plenty of time and managed to arm ourselves with India’s Trains at a Glance – a ridiculously large red book but nevertheless a must for travel across the country as it details every single train route and timetable – and had got our tickets for the 09:15 train – a simple four hour journey to Vapi. As we were in bags of time we had a very tasty breakfast on the station (a spicy omelette with milky tea) and then made our way, leisurely, to the platform. Although there was still half an hour to go, our train was in and boarding so we got on. The train was already full and all we could manage was to squeeze in at the end of a carriage.

Sunday 1^st October 2000

The journey was awful, as [the train] set off people jumped on and there were about 16 of us crammed in at the end of the carriage. As this was a sleeper train, the end space was very claustrophobic and of course the toilets stank. I looked at my watch after what I thought was at least half an hour but it was only 10 minutes. At the first stop some got off but more people got on, despite the other passengers telling them there was no room. At the next stop not only did more people get on but also a ticket checker which found incredible. Vapi was the next stop and the man next to Rob (who had shared his suitcase as a seat, told Rob to get off and he would pass our bags. The man next to me was also getting off, it wasn’t going to be easy as there were already 23 men and me crammed into that small area. The train stopped but even before it stopped people were pushing to get on. The man next to me was telling them to let us off but they wouldn’t – I was getting squashed tighter and tighter, my glasses got pushed and squashed to the top of my head. The man with Rob signalled for us to get off track-side but I was still getting squashed – in the end I just stood on my pack and then climbed on people, finally escaping to the track – Rob caught me as I jumped down, it’s quite a long way.

            The saddest thing about the whole episode was knowing that for all these commuters this is regular train travel. The man who helped us made this journey twice daily and, as he walked us to the platform, I noticed that he had a shoe missing – lost in the crush. I pointed to it as I thanked him for his help – he simply smiled and said it was nothing, this was his country, their culture.