The Other India, V: 'A Teacher's Most Important Lesson'

'The house her employers lived in was three stories high. But all they could spare her was a corridor so snug even turning was impossible.
They owned five ‘hi-fi’ cars. But she was never paid a salary.
And one of the two daughters of the house was a flight attendant with film star beauty. Such a pity then, Nagma muses, that her “heart was full of filth.”'
Read the fifth installment of my series, The Other India, on the NYT's India Ink site here.
Photo: Nagma Ali, 19. Copyright: Sonia Faleiro, 2011

The Other India, IV: The 'Entertainer' Caste Hangs on to What it Knows

"The children work for the community,” Barsati’s brother, Manish, tells me. “We did the same thing when we were their age. But once we grew big, around 13, 14, we had to stop. Who gives big children money? So what could we do? We stopped working, we married, we had children, and our children started to perform. Now we move with them, protect them. When they come of age they’ll stop and be like us. This is our tradition.” Read the fourth installment of my series, The Other India, on the NYT's India Ink site here.

Photo: Ram, age 7, performs for an audience in Bombay's Colaba Causeway. Copyright Sonia Faleiro, 2011.

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