Reality
Location
*This is based off the novel The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (The White Tiger is a window into a world of poverty, greed, and corruption. Balram chose to show this through letters to the premier of China, Wen Jiabao. He was trying to tell what the truth of life in Bangalore is like.)
Dear Mr. Premier,
From the second we are born
We are destined to be nothing more than dirt on the ground
Destined to work hard just to starve,
Destined to forfeit personal education for a dowry,
Destined to be treated as graveyard filler waiting to happen
Destined to be… lower class
Our government sees this
They’re not blind to our turmoil
But they just put bandages over the problems without fixing the cause,
If it’s out of sight it’s out of mind
They think that if they ignore our cries long enough, that they’ll go away
Constricted by nothing but our own society
We are victims to the wealthy
They steer us toward their direction,
And taking a wrong turn means the death of your family,
But following along just makes you a living corpse,
Dead on the inside, no longer a human being
Life for India as a whole isn’t how it is portrayed,
It’s full of poverty, greed, and corruption,
When you visit, look deeper within the booming cities and busy storefronts,
And you’ll see for yourself, Mr. Premier, what it’s really like to live in Bangalore.