BBC - Welcome to India (2012)

Learning how to survive on an increasingly crowded planet is probably our ultimate challenge. But there is one place, home to over a sixth of the world's population, which is already making a good shot at adapting: welcome to India. This observational series casts aside the usual preconceptions about the sub-continent, and lets a few of India's 1.2 billion show how their world really works.

With astonishing access into the densest districts of Kolkata and Mumbai, it celebrates the impressive resourcefulness, resilience and absolute pragmatism of those living and working there, and reveals the psyche needed to get ahead in the biggest of crowds.

More info

Part 1.
This episode follows two main characters as they employ all their ingenuity to carve out a home. With more people moving to cities in India than anywhere else on earth, securing that place you can call home is vital for nurturing your family's future.

Part 2.
Johora started out as a rag-picker, but through building a bottle recycling business on a railway embankment, she has big ambitions for her family of seven kids. And it is not just small waste. Kanye uses a blowtorch to cut up ships discarded by the rest of the world, helping satisfy India's thirst for steel. And Ashik buys up beef fat from the abattoir, and proudly renders it down to make tallow. It looks disgusting, even before he is plagued by a maggot infestation. But this thrifty use of 'waste' may well be destined for your soap or cosmetics.

Part 3.
With India destined to become the most populous nation on earth by 2026, you have got to be highly tactical in your search for a better life. It is not just about you and your dreams today - it is about the family over generations to come. Prakash and Mangesh are brothers in their early twenties from an illegal settlement surrounded by the buzz of downtown Mumbai. Prakash is deckhand on a yacht while striving to realise his dream and launch a Bollywood career. But his family make it clear his sole purpose is to earn enough to fund in their joint future: his brother Mangesh's course in software engineering. Swapan, a merchant in a hectic fish market, works so hard for his family's future that his wife knows he is ruining his health. And Sujit, who crafts disposable clay tea cups in Kolkata, hardly dares dream of seeing his family hundreds of miles away.






Feel free to contact me when links are dead