The film " Slumdog Millionaire" currently showing in cinemas around the world has garnered 8 Oscars in the Academy Awards for 2009. I have not seen the movie yet but some family members have. They tell me it certainly deserves the Oscars accolades. But most would not know about the "real slumdog millionaires" in Mumbai and other cities of India. Watch the 2 videos of a natural, cute, humble, incredible and most amazing kid who can speak more than a dozen foreign languages...learning them all on the street where he sells peacock feathers. He has never had the privilege of attending school. His only survival mechanism that has borne him well is that he must sell to survive. And to do that, he has learnt to speak Italian, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, English...etc., all on his own !
Our kids in school maybe struggling with Cl2, ML2 and TL2...even with the best teachers and resources and support. What is their struggle compared to this kid named Ravi ?
Watch the video and you may want to make a trip to the "Hanging Gardens" in Mumbai to see this kid in action.
Unk Dicko is impressed beyond words!
2 comments:
when one has to survive, one learns how to improvise. Soemtimes fate can be cruel on why we have to take the least tarvelled route to obtain success. I can vouch for sure that this kind of learning + tertiary education teaches one more than books can teach. When you have to deal with real life crisis, your decision-making is quick, concise and pragmatic, unlike those who got the luxury of sitting down at conference table with plenty of hours to play and making Motherhood conclusions.
One case is the HDB leaseback now offered to the elderly. IT is an old program now called by a different name and sold by a different agency. NTUC Income did that before and look what happened to some elderly folks.
Yes, there are so many lessons here for our over -sheltered kids in schools today, their parents and their teachers too.
This boy Ravi has opened the eyes of thousands of people on the internet, about the other side of "natural goodness" that one can find, even among slum dwellers.
He's truly amazing!
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