Book Review: Poor Little Rich Slum by Rashmi Bansal

I have never been much of a fan of Rashmi Bansal’s books, because I felt that her work lacked scrupulousness. But, this is a rather fascinating collection of entrepreneurship anecdotes of the residents of Dharavi, one of the largest slums in the world. Dharavi has never lacked attention whether it be from the media, the tourists or political rhetoric. But what it has been unable to garner are concerted efforts by the society as a whole to understand the ailments, the needs and the way of lives of the residents.

This book is an account of a numbered individuals who have turned this adversity into success and carved a successful future for themselves as a result of their business acumen. It also focuses on the listless government policies and the disenchantment of the people with the policymakers. The addition of the narratives of the individuals and NGOs that have taken the onus of facilitating change bit by bit gives one the feeling that all is not lost.

This is perhaps the best work of the author thus far and the lack of in-depth analysis does not hurt due to the elementary nature of the exemplified success stories (the presence of relevant pictures keeps the reader riveted).