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India: Rich and the Poor
Perry Jackman

     India was unlike any of the countries we have visited. India was diverse and cultural, which was wonderful to see and experience. However, the poverty was unlike anything I have ever seen and was very disturbing.

            Driving through the streets of New Delhi, it was easy to find examples of globalization. There would be McDonalds on every street corner, big office buildings, and traffic. Seeing this mad me think that I was in an was in an American city. New Dehli was very westernized and modern. However, I also saw things I would never find in America, slums. Right across the street from the big shiny buildings and the McDonalds, there would be these small huts with blankets as roofs. The people living in these huts were malnourished and extremely poor. The smell coming from this village was unbearable. Everybody in this village was just trying to survive. These slum villages made you think you were in an undeveloped country. It was very confusing to see these people who are struggling to survive intergrated with people who have more than enough money to survive. There would be a nice apartment building right next to these villages. It was very odd to see all the castes living together in one area. Back home in Colorado, the wealthier people and the poor people live far away from each other. The wealthier people live in suburbs that are far from the cities. The poverty-stricken live in the city. So it was very interesting to watch a business man walking past a woman holding her child begging for money. I would never see that home.

            In India I noticed that everybody is in it for themselves. Indians would rather help themselves rather than someone who needs it more. If there is trash on the ground, people would not pick it up because it is not their trash. The people of India are independent rather than a community. If the people of India worked together and helped each other out, they could help end of poverty.

            In the article, Slums of Bombay, I would have to agree with the author, Sudhin Thanawala that India will never become an economic success story until it eliminates its many urban slums. The poverty was so prevalent in India, that they need to make dramatic leaps to fix the problem. India can not move on unless it helps everyone. They must eliminate poverty and work on housing and job availability for these people living in these slums. I couldn’t believe that India could be so urbanized, but also be so underdeveloped. I hope they can eliminate the slum villages so they can move ahead and become a world power.

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