Katherine Boo's narrative is based upon her time in the Annawadi slum in Mumbai. She begins with an overview of how the "neighborhood" came to exist in its present condition. When the Mumbai Airport was under construction in 1991, many migrants workers moved to the area. They lived in makeshift homes on a plot of airport ground which was too soggy to be used for construction. After the completion of the airport, most of them remained. The community grew into a massive, densely populated plot of territory which still belongs to the airport. Annawadi became known as a haven for migrants from India and nearby Pakistan.
Boo became interested in the Annawadi slum as soon as she learned about its existence. She travelled there and remained for months in order to meet as many people as possible and record their stories. Situated at a unique intersection of technology and tradition, Annawadi is the proverbial bridge between to different worlds in India. Its inhabitants possess the vantage of not belonging to either world but being able to observe both directly.
After describing the actual slum, Boo then introduces the various people she meets. She tells the stories of Sunil, Abdul, Fatima, Manju, and Asha, among others. They are all desperately trying to survive amidst the overwhelming poverty and corruption around them. Their living conditions are disgraceful and their honest prospects of ever leaving the place are bleak, unless as the result of the airport putting an end to all of their homes. As if poverty weren't enough of a struggle, they live with the constant threat of having their homes and possessions destroyed by the airport officials in order to free up land for future development. Each and every story that Boo shares demonstrates the precarious nature of the people's lives in Annawadi.
Prologue: Between Roses
Commencing with the speed and thrill of a high stakes race, the novel opens in July 2008, with young Abdul Husain, on the run from the looming threat of cops. The self immolation of the Husains’ neighbor is bound to draw the attention of the police, and Abdul is indispensable to his family as the highest wage earner, despite being a boy of just sixteen. He hides in the shed which is crucial to storing their livelihood: garbage. An introduction to the Muslim community of Annawadi follows, with the stark fact that they are an absolute minority in the largely Hindu dominated slum presented prominently. Abdul’s mother Zehrunisa is established as the matriarchal decision maker, who immediately decides which of her family members must be allocated the potential blame for the unfortunate incident. The victim of self immolation, Fatima, becomes a central plot-line amongst the chaos that ensues in the intersectional nature of the novel. She is described as an eclectic, promiscuous cripple, who uses her sexuality a a means to escape the judgement her disability brings her. These characters are glued firmly to a backdrop of uncertainty: of poverty, of prospects, of mixed feelings towards the technological leapfrogging of the city they reside in, and of ambitions.
Part One: Undercitizens
The first of the book’s four parts rewinds back to January 2008, and it is established that the author will follow a reconstructive approach, to fit the events leading up to the immolation in the prologue into context. Each of the four chapters in the first part is named after a character in the book. The section is named ‘Undercitizens’ to illustrate a cruel irony. The residents of Annawadi refer to rich Mumbai as the ‘overcity’, literally over their heads in the form of the glossy, towering hotels: a world they would likely never be a part of. Their position in the ‘undercity’ made them ‘undercitizens’. The city of Mumbai, with its two polar opposite worlds, had two distinct sets of citizens as well. The winds of optimism blow through Annawadi; the Indian economy is booming, and each family secretly prays that they will be the lucky beneficiaries. The diverse landscape of Annawadi is mapped out, along with its origins. Created by migrant laborers from the South of India, they reclaimed the marshy wasteland and laid the foundations for what was to become a magnet of unofficial, temporary housing, for those who could not afford Mumbai’s skyrocketing real estate prices. The Husain family, with its nine children putting a heavy burden on their ailing father, Karam, and cunning but overworked mother, Zehrunisa, was benefiting from the rosy economy. Plans were slowly being crafted to leave the slum and move to an exclusive Muslim community outside the city called Vasai. Despite the communal harmony, the Husains felt the weight of being one of the three Muslim families in the slum one they could not bear. Abdul, while skilled as a waste sorter, is an outcast amongst the other young boys. His lazy brother Mirchi enjoys better prospects, associating himself with Rahul, the son of one of the most powerful women in the slum, who is fortunate enough to work temporarily in one of the several opulent hotels surrounding the slum. Envy is an emotion essential to being a resident in Annawadi.
The second chapter is dedicated to the aforementioned rising female slumlord, and Rahul’s mother, Asha. Boo explores the dynamic life of the 39 year old woman, who has taken a different approach to prosperity. While the Husains bank on the hard work of Abdul, Asha Waghekar’s family benefit from her cunning, manipulative and driven nature, qualities one would not attribute to her profession of pre school teacher. Sensing that the local slumlord is losing his power, Asha’s aggressive networking with politicians of powerful region party Shiv Sena, and her willingness to abet their corrupt activities, was slowly draining several families in Annawadi of the little economic fortune they possessed, while her family grew generously. Burdened with a drunken husband, and a son whom she had to monitor constantly, her only assets were her intelligence and her beautiful daughter Manju, whom she was banking on to secure an advantageous marriage.
A dramatic shift occurs in the third chapter, from the rapid social mobility of Asha to the wretched life of twelve year old Sunil, a scavenger without the means to even dream of the prosperity the Husains and the Waghekars work towards. With a younger sister to care for and a drunken father who failed to provide for the family, scavenging kept him from starvation. Having served frequent intervals in an orphanage run by the corrupt Christian nun, Sister Paulette, he has spent most of his life either as a showpiece to attract foreign donations or in fear of starvation, as his father wiled away money on liquor.
The final chapter of ‘Undercitizens‘ shifts back to the Waghekar household, but examines its superficial prosperity through the lens of an insider: Asha’s daughter, Manju. Manju’s life was a source of great envy to many girls in Annawadi, including her best friend Meena. In addition to her beauty and gentle nature, she had a mother who was hell bent on her receiving a good education, and securing a place in the coveted middle class. Yet, Manju’s reality is a series of internal and external conflicts: of time, of conflicting desire, of emotions. The weight of her mother’s expectations insidiously crush her, while she maintains a brave front: as a good daughter, a part time teacher and a trophy which NGOs frequently paraded to potential foreign donors: the first female college graduate from Annawadi.
Part Two: The Business of Burning
Boo unravels the heart of the story in a slow, measured manner. Having familiarized her readers with the lives of those who have appointed her as their storyteller, she reveals the sequence of events that turned each of these precarious lives upside down in the second part. The fifth chapter is born in relative harmony. The Husains still pursue their dream of moving to Vasai, as luck continued to beam down upon them. The slum around them is still in flux as the preparations for the notorious monsoon is made. In a city of crumbling architecture, faulty rains and torrential downpour, even the richest would suffer inconveniences. Annawadi with its makeshift housing that looked like it would crumble any minute, and drainage that flowed freely on the best of days, the anticipatory method left most residents in a state of ever present anxiety. While Mumbai is lauded for its tolerance and harmony, the three Muslim families in Annawadi still feel an underlying tension. The Husains, the family of Fatima, and a brothelkeeper’s household constituted the entire Muslim community in Annawadi. This state of affairs prompts Zehrunisa to reiterate that no matter how annoying they might find their neighbour (Fatima), with her constant leering male companions, foul mouth and inability to remain silent, Muslims must remain united. Privately, Zehrunisa harbors other worries, as the Husains come closer to being able to afford a home in Vasai. She fears that moving from the heart of cosmopolitan Mumbai to a far flung suburb where traditions remained intact would lead to a loss of freedom in her role as a matriarch, and the freedoms of her oldest daughter Kehkashan, who had recently walked out of a bad marriage. Slowly, she convinces her husband to stop fussing over a “ghost house” that they did not have and make improvements in their hut, to make it more comfortable and sanitary. This idea is embraced wholeheartedly, with Zehrunisa considering it a private victory.
The climax to the anticipatory question of how the one legged woman burnt herself arrives in chapter six. The events unfold rapidly, almost too quickly for the reader to make sense of how such triviality could spiral into fatality. As the Husains get to work on improving their home, the undertaking is met with jealousy by families who possess a lot less. As Abdul attempts to install a shelf into the common wall between his home and Fatima’s, the wall begins to crumble in Fatima’s home. The one legged woman, with a penchant for drama, begins to accuse the Husains of trying to crush her home to pieces with their construction. A pugnacious family of nine, the Husains immediately retaliate. Fatima and Zehrunisa get into a physical encounter, ending in the police station; the matter is inconsequential as the police choose to pay attention only to matters of profit, not domestic spats. Fatima leaves the station victoriously, and arrives home to more enraged Husains. A war of word turns ugly, and Fatima decides she must have the ultimate revenge on the family whom she envies and loathes in equal parts. Pouring kerosene over herself, she sets fire to her body, and the Husain’s lives go up in flames.
The response to the incident is chronicled in a crisp, orderly fashion in the eighth chapter. Fatima is transported to a hospital of ill repute, the only one she can afford, in a rickshaw paid for by Asha, who decides it will diminish her importance to actually accompany the woman. The slum boss to be did not associate too closely with Muslims. Once Zehrunisa arrives, she quickly takes charge, ordering Abdul to escape and assigning her husband Karam, also the most economically unproductive in the family, the blame. The police swiftly take both her husband and her daughter Kehkashan into custody, sensing they could make a handsome profit from this case. Meanwhile, Fatima struggles to construct an account of what happened, on her deathbed. An official, who also believes she will be able to extract bribes from the Husains, depends upon Fatima‘ statement, and helps her construct an accusatory sounding narrative. As Zehrunisa panics at the thought of her daughter being brutalized, she orders Abdul to turn himself in. Abdul and Fatima give in at the same time, the former to the police and the latter to death.
The Husain’s steady rise is offset by a rapid decline. The closing chapter to the second part of the novel sees every possible threat closing in on the Husains. Torturously slow beatings and fast arrests are made. Karam’s ill health worsens in an overcrowded jail, while Abdul manages to escape that fate for an only slightly better juvenile home. Zehrunisa becomes the man of the house, negotiating her children, police officers, bribes and a guilty conscience. In his stay at the juvenile home, Abdul encounters a man who calls himself ‘The Master’. He preaches a path of virtuosity, one Abdul has never encountered in a slum where survival was by hook or by crook. He vows to apply the Master’s teachings in his life, and tread carefully in the twisted path his family faces ahead.
Part Three: The Marquee
The third part of the novel begins with a brief respite from the suffering of the Husains. The Waghekar family, under the iron fisted command of Asha, travel to their native village in rural Maharashtra (a state in Western India, of which the capital is Mumbai). The visit is designed cleverly for Asha to advertise her beautiful, college graduate daughter to potential suitors. While the Waghekars are ordinary slum residents in Annawadi, they are celebrated local figures in their village. Asha’s journey is put into perspective for the reader. Her journey’s origins in a water starved, famine prone village make her meteoric rise to slumlord all the more significant.
The tenth chapter opens with an impending death. A deeply injured scavenger lies on the road, screaming in agony for help. Sunil is one of the many who ignores the dying man’s pleas. His death is written off as a mysterious illness for the police. It didn’t matter enough to investigate, and the people of Annawadi didn’t care enough to intervene. Illness and potential fatality were everyday fears they encountered. Sunil is befriended by a young boy who makes his living as a thief: Sonu. Their friendship blossoms over late night robberies of metal good from the airport area, goods that fetched such a good price that they could afford to write off starvation as an unpleasant past memory. But the real reason Sunil enjoys Sonu’s company is the feeling of being cared for: a luxury he has never experienced.
Chapter eleven draws the third section to a close. Death is hot on the trail in Annawadi. A young scavenger with a talent for imitating Bollywood celebrities, Kalu, is found dead. The other boys suspect his activities have enraged a local gang, or security guards. The one witness to the brutal murder, another young scavenger named Sanjay, is unable to bear the weight crushing down his conscience. Kalu’s death is again written off by the authorities as a disease, despite the mountain of evidence indicating a murder. However, a murder investigation of an inconsequential garbage boy brings no profit to the pockets of the policemen. Distraught, Sanjay consumes rat poison and takes his own life. In this environment of omnipresent gloom, the Husains gain one member of their family back. Abdul is released from the juvenile home he was held in, determined to follow the virtuous path as per the Master’s guidance. Finding that many of his peers have left Annawadi for the grave, he develops a bond with Sunil, as the two boys try to make sense of the deaths and the significance of their own lives.
Part Four: Up and Out
Boo lightens the gloom of the deaths in the twelfth chapter of the book’s final segment, wit a festival. The Indian festival of Navratri takes place over nine nights, and marks the triump of good over evil. The poor and rich alike celebrate with dancing, merriment and brightly lit festivity. It is late September of 2008, and Asha has officially taken up the reins as slumlord. Her next ambition is to contest in elections and become the elected representative of her region. Despite having little funds, the people of Annawadi are determined to overcome this obstacle and celebrate to the best of their means. Asha, seeing this as an opportunity to win hearts, quickly pumps in political money, funded by parties as eager as her to win votes from the people of Annawadi. Manju and her friend Meena eagerly await the festivities. Navratri is one of the rare times of the year where young girls are given equal liberty to stay up late and participate equally in the drunken revelry. Yet, Meena begins to feel the constriction of her freedom getting tighter. Expected to be the doting female caretaker to her ungrateful male family members, she rebels, becoming the recepient of physical and verbal abuse. Meena’s consumption of rat poison disrupts the festivities, and by the sixth day of the festival, she is dead. Manju feels the loss more than Meena’s own family does.
The thirteenth chapter brings a superstition approved dose of bad luck to Annawadi. On the 26th of November, a group of Muslim terrorists take over a luxury hotel in a posh neighborhood in South Mumbai, and commit a bloody massacre. While the Muslims of Annawadi harbor their own private fears of a communal backlash, the slum dwellers have greater fears. The incident brings a drop in tourism, which slows down the economy. The slowdown has devastating trickle down effects. The loss in business leads many families to the brink of starvation, where the only sustenance available is frogs and rats. Meanwhile, Zehrunisa prepares for the trial of her husband and daughter, who remain in jail with declining health and hope.
Boo leads the reader to the trial of the Husains in chapter fourteen amidst mounting tensions. The affair is royally anti climatic. Taking place in a fast track court, designed by the Government to clear the backlog of cases, the judge seems thoroughly disinterested in the incident for which Karam and Kehkashan have suffered in jail for months. In fact, with the exception of the police officials who aimed to gain in bribes, the late Fatima’s husband and the Husains, very few seemed to care about the outcome of the case.
Ironically named “Ice”, the fifteenth chapter sees the Husains navigating a cold, cruel world of bureaucracy and unsympathetic acquaintances. The process of hiring and maintaining a lawyer was putting a severe financial burden on the Husain family. Abdul’s younger brother, Mirchi, attempted to contribute as best as he could by working as a temporary waiter in the plush, plentiful hotels. Amongst the many struggles of his new job was that he felt bone chillingly cold in the centrally air conditioned hotels, designed to keep out the heat from the havens of the elite. Zehrunisa stands like a pillar for her family, while crumbling on the inside.
The penultimate chapter sixteen sees another strong female character crumble: Asha. It is slowly revealed that Asha’s power stemmed not just from her ability to impress politicians with her wit and cunning, but from the selling of her body to these men. Her husband is unhappily aware of this fact, and Manju accepts it with a helpless horror. But Asha is slowly losing her male admirers, and consequently, her power. She struggles with her self esteem and becomes a shell of her former self. Her redemption comes in the form of an elaborate Ponzi scheme, in which she receives generous commissions. Unable to resist the material reward their mother bestows upon them, Manju and Rahul too join in. The Waghekar’s story ends on a bittersweet note. They are undoubtedly more financially prosperous, but the cost is justice driven, virtuous Manju losing her path, as many do in the ruthless survival struggle that is Mumbai.
The seventeenth chapter brings the agonizing wait of the Husains to an end. With a new judge assigned to their case, the family is anxious as to how ruthless or forgiving he will be with his verdict. Meanwhile, chaos breaks out in Annawadi. Their former slumlord Robert is arrested for animal cruelty, as animal rights groups believe he is mistreating his horses. Of all his crimes, it is ironic to the residents that this is the charge which puts Robert behind bars. The election which loomed large is conducted, and the same corrupt politicians return to power, fulfilling none of the promises made to the people during the campaigns. The final trial in the Husains’ case is unexpectedly quick. The judge deems it ridiculous that such a silly matter has progressed so far in court, and acquits both Karam and Kehkashan of the charge. The Husains are free from the tension of a long jail term, but Annawadi still quakes at the possibility that it could be razed down by profit hungry business developers any minute. A plot of land is razed down, and the children of the slum question whether it will be a school, a hospital or a football field. Boo does not write in a happily every after into a story where it would stick out like a sore thumb. Instead, she leaves the reader with an encounter between Abdul and Sunil, which ends with the only thing that both boys and every other resident of Annawadi can hold on to with certainty: hope.
