Did anyone else watch this last night? Well worth it, was Part 1 of 3.
Positive outlook on life of these people featured were simply humbling.
Gold dust from the shyte in the gutters ! I really feel for these people , many who live on the streets, but somehow they seem to get more out of life than a lot of westerners.
Do some work, play a bit of cricket, living life to the full 💡

A neighbour talked to me about it this morning – she said it was fantastic TV, with a real ‘check how damn lucky you are’ kick!

She said the bit where a chap looked round a new flat (the hoveliest of hovels?) was joyous?

iPlayer for tonight, I think!

Yeah was certainly an eye-opener and they were all pretty positive, although I guess if you don’t know any other lifestyle it’s just the norm to you. The guy in charge of the bigger sifting operation was class (and proof they’re not all hard working) :p

She said the bit where a chap looked round a new flat (the hoveliest of hovels?) was joyous?

That bit had my wife in tears.
The guy and five mates were going to move into that tiny flat, but they were overjoyed at moving out from sharing a space with 15 workers.
These people really have nothing, but appear so cheerful.
It was a great program. A real eye-opener.

it was good to see how happy most of them seemed with very little

seeing the guy coming out of the drain covered in s**t and smiling was an eye opener

Yeah I saw it, does make you realise how lucky you are. The council came to bulldoze their “houses”, so all the families that could quickly disassembled them, the,n once the bulldozers had gone set about rebuilding them to start all over again. And the guy selling books for R250 saying they were the hard workers, yet if they were caught they would be “fined” R2500 and probably get a beating as well, just trying to feed themselves……and 90% of workers in India are out of the system and responsible for 2/3 of GDP

IME India is certainly an eye-opener, with 99% of them trying to live and make life better and the other 1% in ‘charge’; and pretty much with the intention of keeping the 99% in their ‘place’.

Was good but the narrator got on my nerves a bit. I have family there and did live there for a few years. Even so the things you encounter will knock the stuffing out of you.
We set up a free clinic 2 years ago after some devastating floods. It’s still going and I found out yesterday that 92000 cases have been logged in that time! 50% under 10years. For the guys in the film and 90% of the population it really is a precarious life.

India is a very rich country really with the highest property prices in the world in Mumbai etc yet the caste system keeps people down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLjyo51qmrI&sns=em

Give it twenty years of coalition goverment and that’s what life will be like in the UK.

Yeah, the enterprise shown by all the characters featured was amazing, especially the guys down the drains. After watching it I put our two dogs to bed in our utility room and had a thought: it was bigger than that ‘new’ room that the lads were getting excited about moving in to… we are very lucky barstewards to be born and live in a developed country. How different life could’ve been.

After watching it I put our two dogs to bed in our utility room and had a thought: it was bigger than that ‘new’ room that the lads were getting excited

think like them. rent it out…

These people really have nothing, but appear so cheerful.

Hmm yeah, but don’t confuse material goods with ‘having things’.

Those kids who were sleeping on the waste ground – they were a solid bunch of really good mates who do everything together. That’s not nothing. Many of us don’t have that.

One of the things that struck me was that almost all of the people featured were at least bilingual. A guy sleeping on the street, fluent in english. Shows how lazy we are. As my daughter of 16 pointed out English is quite likely to be their 3rd language.

And the guy in the shack on the beach, his boy was scrubbed, shiny and happy to be going to school. Maybe our kinds should be made to watch it, they might appreciate what opportunity they have a little more.

‘check how damn lucky you are’ kick!

I didn’t feel that way at all. Many many a programme on India or Africa falls into about pity. This however was a well made programme. It was about their story without falling pray to the presenter pitying them.

Well made and all who featured were very likeable. The wife whose look as she held the new sari was ‘and how much did he spend on this’ rather than ‘ooo great’ 😆

There were also parallels between our lives- i.e. they all had routines, the same issues, looking for a new place etc etc. Yes it was based in poverty but it wasn’t about pity. Awesome.

Hm. Independent for 65 years and they can only supply electricity to 20% of the country.

But they’ve got their own nuclear arsenal just in case they feel like slaughtering the Pakistanis.

Of course, it’s all OUR fault. Or Thatcher’s. Or something.

1 of 3 prog’s? That makes me happy 🙂

molgrips wrote:

Hmm yeah, but don’t confuse material goods with ‘having things’.

I wasn’t. Don’t worry. 😉
I’m talking along the lines of food, shelter and sanitation.

Will check this on iplayer, thanks. Funny how in another thread several people were trying to claim that we aren’t lucky/well-off in this country.

One of the things that struck me was that almost all of the people featured were at least bilingual. A guy sleeping on the street, fluent in english. Shows how lazy we are. As my daughter of 16 pointed out English is quite likely to be their 3rd language.

Not all to do with lazy, name me a useful language that works in a number of countries – French? Nah limited to France, some African/Caribbian countries, German? Not really limited to Germany and Austrians/Swiss speak in a strange dialect; etc, etc

I’ve spent years travelling on business, and yes, when in specific countries their language would be really useful but English works. Everywhere, someone can speak (and often understand 😉 ) English.

I missed it, but gonna download it and watch it tonight as a couple of people told me it was def worth watching…

India has loads of common languages, English is one of them. When surrounded by lots of languages you end up speaking several.

We only admire bilingualism as something hard to achieve because it’s a dry academic thing you have to work at here. Not in many countries.

India has loads of common languages, English is one of them. When surrounded by lots of languages you end up speaking several.

Funniest thing was I went out with a Indian girl years ago. A group of lads playing cricket racially abused us/her in Urdu. She looked confused and I asked – they were Pakistani’s who thought she was a muslim, she was neither and only spoke Gujarati or English. 😆

A group of lads playing cricket racially abused us/her in Urdu. She looked confused and I asked – they were Pakistani’s who thought she was a muslim, she was neither and only spoke Gujarati or English.

How do you know it was racial abuse then?

From an advert in Cycling Plus, October 2012, page 183:
“Tour of India bike factories November
…the means of producing bikes in India, much of it still being produced on the machinery purchased from the UK during the 1950’s is the most fascinating, amusing, bewildering and highly interesting you will see.
Would you like to see a large sheet of metal turned into a massive length of chain?
Or a long length of steel plate turned into a wheel?
We will be taking groups of people for seven days, covering the itinery…
Overnight flight to Delhi around 12 noon. To hotel and free time. Two visits to different factories.
Interested persons, please send e-mail to alf@webbline.co.uk”
01406371273

This series was preceeded by one called Welcome to Lagos, which wasn’t so heavily trailed as this series but it was still remarkably good.

They should flog the nukes to the Arabs (as they are a bit flush) and spend the cash on public health and infrastructure.
What’s the worst that could happen?? :-/