SCANDALOUS STING OPERATION

Innocent face with a coy smile when asked what she wants to become when she grows up,the 9 year old Rubina Ali replies"Mujhe Preity zinta banna hai"with enthusiasm. She is one of the garib living in Garibnagar slum in Bandra. With no proper roof on the head and a uncertain future she was living with her father Rafiq Qureshi and her stepmother Munni.

Rubina along with her two siblings was left under the care of her father by her biological mother Khushi who absconded five years ago to marry a rich man in hope of a better life. What could this child expect for tomorrow when she could not expect the next meal of the day. Such a sad situation can even melt the hardest of hearts.[But unfortunately there are harder than the hardest hearts.]

One auspicious day when luck was in favor and the right opportunity strikes. This young neglected child had in store a destiny which every child of her age could envy. Lights..camera..action!! The camera went rolling to focus her as the young Latika in the movie Slumdog Millionare. Little did her family imagine the movie would be grand success to win 8 oscar awards and their little girl would be a celebrity overnight walking the redcarpet in Hollywood with the other members of the cast. I am actually imagining do they even know what Oscar award means.
When Joey Fatone and Lisa Rinna interviewed the kids during Academy award red carpet, she was just a tender mind in awe of the glamor and glitter around her.Though the other kids of the movie could speak English and were voicing out their excitement, she and another co-star Azhar who is also a resident of the slum, were just mute spectators. When Joey suddenly shifted the attention towards her and asked 'How are you feeling?are you OK?' she could only answer YES, and when next question was 'A little crazy,huh?' her answer was again YES. I can say that at least the kid knew how to mask her illiteracy.

After the glitzy glamor of the dreamland evaporated into thin air and she was back into the same filthy and sleazy slum with some money following her success in the movie and funds by Danny Boyle, the director of the movie for her education. The Maharashtra Housing and Development authority have decided to give her and her co-star Azhar new free houses because they have brought laurels to the country. [Till now it was sleeping and will continue to sleep once the media stop bothering them as what the country has done for this young stars!!zzzzz....]

She was away from the limelight until recently a British Tabloid screamed of her father trying to sell her for a sum of ₤200k, roughly about 1.5 crores in a bid to escape poverty.

The claims were made that 'The news of the world' hosted a nasty sting operation by sending two undercover journalists posing as a rich Arab couple wanting to adopt Rubina.

Rubina's father dismisses the allegations made against him saying that he is being framed. He was initially asked by a rich man to bring Rubina to the hotel where he would discuss a job. I think

he happily agreed on the money since he could dream for a better future for his daughter and his other family members. A local newspaper claims that he dint understand anything much until he realized that they were actually not offering a job but making a deal to buy his daughter. He realized the folly and quickly he made a way out of it until the next morning when the news was all over that he tried to sell his daughter. The British tabloid said that he

was looking for a higher bid to sell his daughter. [Do you believe in holy crap??...;0]

He told the local reporters that he was a victim of a dirty trick and they tried to tempt him.

Can you comprehend the situation?....According to me,the Britishers have no right to make a mockery out of the poverty in India. Cant they just bother about what is good for them,cant they bother more about why 13 and 14 year old kids are getting pregnant in their country?

They wanted to investigate into child exploitation in mumbai and hence send their journalists posing as sheiks from the Arab world who happen to see the clip of Rubina on Al Jazeera TV. How nasty and dirty can they be to fall so low??

What can you expect a person living in slum who might have seen few thousand rupees after the success of his daughter in his life resist to the temptation of 2ook pounds in his life????

You must be kidding me if you said he would not give in to the temptation when life has been so hard on him all this while. I am sure the huge figures and thoughts of luxury he can have with that money must have been circling his mind than concentrating on the other details spoken to him about his daughter's deal in their British accent.

A father who has seen the dreams and hopes in the eyes of his young child amidst the cruelty of dog's life would certainly want to give her a decent life especially when she has been the reason to bring luck and fame in his downtrodden family. What can he do when he is caught up in heinous negative press story,but merely try to defend himself all alone.

Whoever has tried to gain publicity out of this poor man's life is a utter shame and disgust to his country.KINDLY KEEP OUT OF OUR BUSINESS. We Indians should strongly criticize and condemn such acts. The negative picture they want to paint in the world will only result in more stronger Indians trying to combat the crudity existing today in India.

To tell you honestly my friends I have personally faced many painful questions after Slum dog Millionaire. Staying in India we share the same story but living abroad we represent our country.

Questions like are ''Is your country so poor''?or "Do the scenes of the movie be a part of real life''? or ''Is their child prostitution and child beggars?" has made me live that life of Latika in real life. Though we Indians have made great contributions to the world and are the largest democracy in the world, the foreign documentaries on India focuses only on the poverty and filth in India.

We may win Oscars or go to space, we may have the best engineers and doctors, we may have the most talented people but to the people around the world we are poor people who can be brought at a cheap labor.

I wonder what the politicians do when they visit other countries of the world? They only marvel at the cleanliness and the prosperity of the developed countries and go back and forget it all. Do you also wonder???Please do send in your comments as what you think about it.

I end my blog for today sending a clear message to the British media condemning this shameful sting operation from their shameless minds.

Keep smiling and do one small act today to bring a smile on the face of a poor child living near your locality or area. Why wait for the government..what say??:)