THE URBAN UNDERBELLY by Adarsh Pradeep
Blurb (as on Amazon)
Is the urbanization in India inclusive? Who have we left behind?
Set in a slum, close to a canal which has become the waste dump yard, this story tells the tale of those left behind-the urban dispossessed. Their aspirations, hardships, happiness, the government
apathy and the dark side of crime and drugs. Through the lives of Raghu, Sreeni, Arun, and Hema, the story exposes the underbelly of the haphazard urbanization in India.
Genre: Fiction/Short Story
Pages: 30
Format: Kindle eBook
Price: 71 INR/$1.00
My Ratings: 4.4/5
Hema works as a housemaid and her husband, Sreeni drives an autorickshaw to meet their day-to-day expenses of living in the slums. With monsoons on in full swing and Hema losing one of her jobs, they insist their teenage son, Raghu to start working as well. In a bid to help, Raghu gets entangled in some shady business with one of their slum neighbors, Arun. Will he get in trouble now and how would Sreeni be able to help?
Book cover taken from AmazonWhat I liked about the book:
-> It is a crisp, simple, and gutting narrative of the hardships and perils faced by a family dwelling in the Indian slums.
-> The story is thought-provoking because it clearly shows how in a bid to end their suffering, the poor, innocent, and honest folk end up in traps sprung by the powerful people who set out to destroy them.
-> The book enlightens us with the helplessness of poor population of India that lives in the slums . The author successfully adds a lot of substance within the limited number of pages of this short story.
What I did not like about the book:
-> Though the narrative is compelling, the climax was kind of predictable.
Quotable quotes:
-> I am doing this for her, for our family. We have to get out of this filthy slum. No government is going to allow us any land. That drama has been going on for at least a decade now.
-> Don’t judge something before you try it for yourself.
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