A land of dichotomy

I'm beginning to recognize some of the geography as we drive around Pune. I know we turn right after the HSBC building to get to our hotel. I know the S1 office is on the right after we cross the big bridge over the Mula Mutha River. So now instead of looking at the buildings, I find myself looking between the buildings. And what a different world it is between the buildings and under the bridges and on the banks of the river.

The middle class lives and works in the buildings. The poor strive for sustenance between the buildings. I see mothers with babies in arms sitting on curbs, digging through trash bins, walking barefoot along the thoroughfares. This morning I saw two barely clothed children playing in the garbage dump while a woman, presumably their mother, searched nearby, presumably for food. The banks of the Mula Mutha, which is very low beneath the banks in February a month or two before the monsoons begin, are packed with tents, make-shift homes of cardboard and fabric. However, during the rainy season, the Mula Mutha will fill its basin and has the potential to overflow its banks, completlely flooding this shanty-town. Even if the banks don't overflow, the mud caused by the rains must make the area unlivable.

Just over the bridge from these shanties are relatively new, high-rise condos, which are selling for $100 - $200 USD per square foot. That price puts them out of reach even for the educated high-tech company workers, which comprise a majority of the emerging middle class.

The gap between rich and poor is an international one, but it is very noticeable here in Pune.