I had read this book about 6 years ago and then, I came across it again when I had gone back to my birthplace 2 months ago for a break. I tried remembering the story, I knew this book had me very emotional, a very humane tale! But I could only recollect bits and bits of everything so I decided to re-read it and make a blog for myself, telling myself the story and what the book had actually meant to me. So here it goes!
Everyone has heard about the slums of Calcutta, now Kolkata. I prefer Calcutta! Anyway, let's get back to the point. I am talking about the 1980's and earlier than that. We all know about the poverty, diseases(mainly leprosy which was considered to be communicable and incurable), human horses(that's human drawn rickshaws) and we all have heard about Mother Teresa. Who doesn't know her? If people can't be like her, the least people can do is admire her for her strength and will to help the poor and she chose the poor of Calcutta. But there were more people who had given up their lives to suffer with the poor of Calcutta. This book is the story of such a man!
Stephen Kovalski, a Pole Catholic priest had lived among the poor in the slums of Anand Nagar, which when translated becomes City of Joy. He had come to India and chose Calcutta as his destination to be a part of the poor. He stayed in the slums just like the poor and suffered with them in all their tragedies and rejoiced with them in all the small joys. India is made up of people belonging to many different religions, castes, sub-castes, etc. etc. But among the poor, they all live together as one. Kovalski had felt his will to stay on faltering but he prayed to Jesus and enchanted Om along with it which gave him the strength to continue. Inspite of being a Catholic priest, he did not feel the divide of religion. He got his strength from the Gods, whether it be the Hindu God or Christian God. People respected and valued him because of his willingness to stay as one among them and for giving up his life to bring them up even a notch in the society.
This book also tells about a farmer, Hasari Pal who had come from the village to Calcutta due to droughts. He had come with his wife and children to the city in the hopes of earning enough money to go back to his village to the rest of his family and start farming again. But he did not know that the city of Calcutta was a human jungle! Anyone who comes to Calcutta hopes to earn money and go back to his village to continue with their old life, but that's more of a myth for the poor. He did not find any work, they lived in the pavements. He sold his blood for money, watched his fellow pavement dweller's daughter turn a prostitute, sent his children out to become rag-pickers till the time he became a human horse. And how happy he was to become one!
This book depicts the will of people to live and in this struggle, how much evil is done to them. People buy their fresh and clean blood when they come newly to the city, they buy the womb of mothers-to-be, they also buy the bones of the death-to-be! How do you even make out who is going to die?? But this was not an uncommon incident in Calcutta. Rickshaw pullers commonly suffered from the Red Fever. That's what it's known as, but in medical terms, it is called tuberculosis. After years and years of transporting the rich and their goods, they start coughing blood and that is when they know the end is near. Even Pal sold his bones so that he could get enough money to pay for the dowry of his daughter's marriage. That was his last duty left as a man before he went to the other world.
Enough of the inhuman parts, let me get to the good side. Indian festivals, ceremonies and rites of all religions, caste and creeds are described very meticulously and how everyone, irrespective of which genre they fall into, become one at that point of time. Stories of many other people are also told - a rich American doctor who comes to the City of Joy to save as many lives as he could, local residents of the slums who sacrifices everything to help the priest and the doctor in giving out maximum help to the society, the local mafia who helped housing the victims of leprosy during the cyclone, poor rickshaw pullers helping their fellow-mates learn the ways of life, slum dwellers helping the people living on streets to get a home in the slums.
This is a must read book! It is a mix of the inhuman and humane side of people. To what heights some people can go to try to bring up the poor and for some people, to extract from the already deprived lives of the poor.
Everyone has heard about the slums of Calcutta, now Kolkata. I prefer Calcutta! Anyway, let's get back to the point. I am talking about the 1980's and earlier than that. We all know about the poverty, diseases(mainly leprosy which was considered to be communicable and incurable), human horses(that's human drawn rickshaws) and we all have heard about Mother Teresa. Who doesn't know her? If people can't be like her, the least people can do is admire her for her strength and will to help the poor and she chose the poor of Calcutta. But there were more people who had given up their lives to suffer with the poor of Calcutta. This book is the story of such a man!
Stephen Kovalski, a Pole Catholic priest had lived among the poor in the slums of Anand Nagar, which when translated becomes City of Joy. He had come to India and chose Calcutta as his destination to be a part of the poor. He stayed in the slums just like the poor and suffered with them in all their tragedies and rejoiced with them in all the small joys. India is made up of people belonging to many different religions, castes, sub-castes, etc. etc. But among the poor, they all live together as one. Kovalski had felt his will to stay on faltering but he prayed to Jesus and enchanted Om along with it which gave him the strength to continue. Inspite of being a Catholic priest, he did not feel the divide of religion. He got his strength from the Gods, whether it be the Hindu God or Christian God. People respected and valued him because of his willingness to stay as one among them and for giving up his life to bring them up even a notch in the society.
This book also tells about a farmer, Hasari Pal who had come from the village to Calcutta due to droughts. He had come with his wife and children to the city in the hopes of earning enough money to go back to his village to the rest of his family and start farming again. But he did not know that the city of Calcutta was a human jungle! Anyone who comes to Calcutta hopes to earn money and go back to his village to continue with their old life, but that's more of a myth for the poor. He did not find any work, they lived in the pavements. He sold his blood for money, watched his fellow pavement dweller's daughter turn a prostitute, sent his children out to become rag-pickers till the time he became a human horse. And how happy he was to become one!
This book depicts the will of people to live and in this struggle, how much evil is done to them. People buy their fresh and clean blood when they come newly to the city, they buy the womb of mothers-to-be, they also buy the bones of the death-to-be! How do you even make out who is going to die?? But this was not an uncommon incident in Calcutta. Rickshaw pullers commonly suffered from the Red Fever. That's what it's known as, but in medical terms, it is called tuberculosis. After years and years of transporting the rich and their goods, they start coughing blood and that is when they know the end is near. Even Pal sold his bones so that he could get enough money to pay for the dowry of his daughter's marriage. That was his last duty left as a man before he went to the other world.
Enough of the inhuman parts, let me get to the good side. Indian festivals, ceremonies and rites of all religions, caste and creeds are described very meticulously and how everyone, irrespective of which genre they fall into, become one at that point of time. Stories of many other people are also told - a rich American doctor who comes to the City of Joy to save as many lives as he could, local residents of the slums who sacrifices everything to help the priest and the doctor in giving out maximum help to the society, the local mafia who helped housing the victims of leprosy during the cyclone, poor rickshaw pullers helping their fellow-mates learn the ways of life, slum dwellers helping the people living on streets to get a home in the slums.
This is a must read book! It is a mix of the inhuman and humane side of people. To what heights some people can go to try to bring up the poor and for some people, to extract from the already deprived lives of the poor.
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