Kevin McCloud: Slumming It

[Mars]

He's in the Mumbai slums for two weeks, staying with a few people who have agreed to put him up. It's easy to say "by our standards it's really terrible" but I find it hard to understand how anyone could find the way they are forced to live acceptable. Worse is that his guide, when asked if it's "right" said yes.

Channel 4.

It's horrible. I wouldn't do what he is doing, even for his salary.

The people he is meeting seem really nice too (which is the point of the programme).

[jas xjr]

I am of Indian origin and have spent a few months there. Never seen anything like this, quite shocking. People do seem quite happy.

[D14 AYS]

Unbelievable! They are just stting on the streets!

[Mars]

I am British white and my wife is Polish white. Although my wife has been to Malaysia before we met, I haven't ever left Europe. India looks to me to be a fantasy land of colour and spices. I'd love to holiday there but I fear I'd contract some bug minutes after landing and miss the rest of my stay there. I'd not even consider approaching the slums but I fear the general "differences" would lay me out.

My brother visits China from time to time and normally ends up with period of a few days "stomach acclimatisation". He hates it there.

I'm amazed that McCloud isn't ill, and yet I'm insanely jealous of his being there.

[Twit]

I've travelled all over India and the romantic image of India can be found, but for most of the time, and especially in the cities, the programme is what its like. Dumping in the streets can be seen in any city first thing in the morning.

As a country its such a contradiction, the highs are epic and lows are beyond anything anyone in the west can imagine. The people by and large are amazing, I love the place, and it really gets under the skin, but the programme is showing it as it is which it should.

Worth rememebering that parts of pakistan and China are far worse than India.

Edited by Twit on Thursday 14th January 22:07

Edited by Twit on Thursday 14th January 22:08

[Mars]

I felt so dirty watching that I had to take a shower.

Glad to hear the romantic India does really exist. I think I'd have to pick my travel itiniery with care if I went there.

[okgo]

Looks like an incredible place, when they showed the slums up against the skyscrapers of mumbai, amazing.

Slumdog Millionaire showcases the scenery very well.

[R60EST]

I've just watched this . Very thought provoking . The fire risk if nothing else is a real eye opener.

Property prices , WTF would you pay £50k for an inner slum illegal 'house'

Can't deny the community spirit though , or the low crime rate.

I'll be tuning in again tomorrow and probably watch most of the Indian Winter programming, I don't know why but I am finding it fascinating.

You may catch the last few minutes on C4+1 if you're wondering what this thread is about ( assuming you've not seen it yet)

[MrV]

Mars said:

I'm amazed that McCloud isn't ill,

Reading between the lines on his comments about the food he was given at the festival it looked to be he was only drinking bottled water and being very careful where and what he ate

[Jasandjules]

I think it is awfully depressing and it makes me sad that people actually live that way.

I know there are places like it all over the world etc. but still.

[Tuna]

Fascinating programme. The hygiene is horrific by western standards, but the community is strong and healthy, people are happy and crime is low. It was amazing that against such a background they dressed well and quite a few were bilingual. Our obsession with material goods and our own space gives us no real benefit over these people. If you could run a decent sewer through the slum would that make it an acceptable place to live?

[jas xjr]

last time i went to india i was there for 17 weeks. i ate home grown food prepared in a western standard kitchen. all the veg we ate was grown on my cousins farm without any nasty chemicals used in the cultivation of it. we drank bottled water . even the flour used was from his own wheat. even then i still suffered with a dodgy stomach. after a few weeks i was fine.

when i came back to the uk i was ill for a few weeks , with the change of diet.
but india is really another world. whilst i was there there was a fuss over the local coca-cola plant using contaminated water. the produsts were taken off the shelves really quickly.

street food is best avoided for obvious reasons.

will be watching it again , as our kev is rumoured to be a bit of a petrolhead.

[bobbylondonuk]

I am indian.. and I can tell you this in a short format.

Rich are extremely rich and live in crazy style.
Poor are extremely poor and live in conditions that you have seen on telly
The middle class have so much aspiration to be part of the rich.
And finally, the poor want to be the middle class.


This fellow PHers is what makes Urban India tick. Education and social competition is very high on the agenda. Family values are extremely strong and cultural, traditional boundaries and limitations are higher in the lower segment and get more relaxed as you move up the social ladder.(not ideal...but it reflects the modern and free thinking ideas as more money comes into the traditional lifestyle)

You will never guess that a person on the street who gives you directions in grammatically decent English, is a person who dumps on the street and takes a shower under a communal pipe at 6am!!!!

There is one ideology that every Indian is born with...'never forget where you came from'. This is what makes the social ladder very workable within the society..as you move up, you never forget people below and the people below want to work with you because the higher you climb the higher they can climb as well!!!

Sometimes I wish these ideas and ethics were prevalant among the british society as a whole...the country and people would be the richest in the world in no time. We have all the ingredients here...only the attitude is missing!

[Jasandjules]

jas xjr said:

will be watching it again , as our kev is rumoured to be a bit of a petrolhead.

Yep, he's owned a Ferrari or two IIRC..

[okgo]

bobbylondonuk said:

I am indian.. and I can tell you this in a short format.

Rich are extremely rich and live in crazy style.
Poor are extremely poor and live in conditions that you have seen on telly
The middle class have so much aspiration to be part of the rich.
And finally, the poor want to be the middle class.


This fellow PHers is what makes Urban India tick. Education and social competition is very high on the agenda. Family values are extremely strong and cultural, traditional boundaries and limitations are higher in the lower segment and get more relaxed as you move up the social ladder.(not ideal...but it reflects the modern and free thinking ideas as more money comes into the traditional lifestyle)

You will never guess that a person on the street who gives you directions in grammatically decent English, is a person who dumps on the street and takes a shower under a communal pipe at 6am!!!!

There is one ideology that every Indian is born with...'never forget where you came from'. This is what makes the social ladder very workable within the society..as you move up, you never forget people below and the people below want to work with you because the higher you climb the higher they can climb as well!!!

Sometimes I wish these ideas and ethics were prevalant among the british society as a whole...the country and people would be the richest in the world in no time. We have all the ingredients here...only the attitude is missing!

That sounds close to the truth.

[Deva Link]

MrV said:

Mars said:

I'm amazed that McCloud isn't ill,

Reading between the lines on his comments about the food he was given at the festival it looked to be he was only drinking bottled water and being very careful where and what he ate

My daughter has a very delicate constitution but she spent 3 weeks in India and was fine. As others have said though, she was *very* careful about what she ate and drank.

Bear in mind it used to be pretty standard practice for holiday-makers in Spain to get stomach upsets (or worse).

[macp]

Jasandjules said:

jas xjr said:

will be watching it again , as our kev is rumoured to be a bit of a petrolhead.

Yep, he's owned a Ferrari or two IIRC..

Yep and TVR`s

SWMBO and I are big fans of KM loved the recent series he did travelling around Europe looking at architecture.

Sorry went a little off topic there.

Edited by macp on Friday 15th January 12:43

[Mr Sea]

They do seem happy, but what a s h i t hole. The thing that impressed me though, is how clean they are, including the constant cleaning of their teeth, and they dress immaculately.

Edited by Mr Sea on Friday 15th January 13:01

[Mars]

Tuna said:

If you could run a decent sewer through the slum would that make it an acceptable place to live?

I was actually thinking that if you could knock down the whole place and build really cheap, small housing, with toilets and showers, and proper sewers, would that kill off the community spirit?

I think not. You just have to build them like they are now... on top of each other and facing one another. I'm sure it wouldn't take much to build steel and concrete housing for them, and provide them with rubbish collections and proper water/sewage services. I find it amazing that, so close to an obviously rich city, people can turn a blind eye to that horror.

And although they all seemed happy and there was a low crime rate, I couldn't help wonder what the average life expectancy, and infant mortality was, and how many children had accidents with the quite frankly dangerous landscape.

Felt quite sad about it overall.

[jskater]

Sorry to be somewhat off topic, but can anyone tell me the name of the Mogwai tune used during the show? I think it was quite an early work, possibly off one of their Ep's.

Looking forward to part 2 tonight :-)