Behind the beautiful forevers

Last year i was in Mumbai, and I was a bit shocked by some of the things I saw. The first thing you see if the plane is ready to hit the ground is a huge slum. The second thing I saw was a modern, carpeted airport. Later I learned the slum is called Annawadi. It's a communitiy of 3000 people, who are mainly garbage-sorters. The airport and the expensive hotels are a big source of income for the people of Annawadi. This drawing is inspired by the book 'Behind the beautiful forevers' by Katherine Boo. She describes slum-life through the eyes of a few inhabitants. The name of the book comes from an advertisement-sign for an Italian tile-company. 'Beautiful forever' the sign says. I loved the book, beautifully written, and beautiful sentences. It's a non-fiction book but feels like a fiction book. (Here is an article in the NY-times about her book. ) It's a year later, and this time I will celebrate New Years in rainy Amsterdam. I hear firecrackers banging everywhere, and look forward to drinking some wine with my friends. I hope you have a good evening tomorrow.

A link for the dutch-readers who'd like to order the book.