Poorism: Voyeurism at its Worst?

Article Written By: Amit Abhyankar

Ever heard of ‘poorism’ or ‘slum tourism’? May be not. You must have however heard, I bet, ‘Circuit’ asking a tourist in ‘Munnabhai’, “Can’t you see TajMahal in India?” and the intriguing answer, “No…..Real India……poor people…..hungry people!” That’s slum tourism…..Now you got it!

We have had Taj; we have had magnificent temples & sculptures; but now it seems India has more alluring tourist centers– Makeshift homes under footbridges near Delhi Railway Station; Dharavi in Mumbai & the likes.

Agencies like ‘Reality Tours & Travels’ in Mumbai & ‘Salam-Balak Trust’ in Delhi are busy organizing ‘reality tours’ for foreign & local tourists, giving them an ‘opportunity’ to peak in the lives of poor Indians, the concept borrowed from the famous ‘Brazil Tours’. With fees ranging from Rs. 200 to 600, the tour guides explain the tourists how the children live, what they do for a living, where they sleep, how they are addicted to correction fluid called ‘Eraz-Ex’ & how they are beaten up by police & obviated by locals. Cheerful travelers in bright holiday T-shirts gazing at profound misery!

Should we allow this? Aren’t we portraying a very repulsive image of India? Aren’t we invading the privacy & dignity of those dwellers? But before we hasten ourselves to any conclusions, let us hear the other side of the story as well.

The organizers claim that the trips are undertaken not to showcase poverty but sensitize the tourists & create awareness about slum way of life. The agencies also claim that 80% of the profits after tax are given away to local NGOs, working for upliftment of the same slum-dwellers. E.g. The Salam-Balak trust runs a school & dispensary for these children. Javed, one of the founders of this agency & also former dweller of these slums himself, claims this helps remove wrong notions about the children living on rail platforms. “Now they (tourists) don’t associate them with pick-pocketing anymore”, he beams with satisfaction, “The children have found new hope”.

So is this the way to help the slum-dwellers? (And we thought it to be a government duty.) The common wisdom is that to draw tourists, we need to promote only nice things like the beautiful beaches of Thailand or the mountains of Bhutan. Is it time we try promoting our slums as well, which we have always shied from admitting exist? Would it make the locals acknowledge the slums they have always neglected?

I would prefer to give answers of most of these questions in negative. No, that’s not the way! Another Javed, this time Javed Abidi, a disabled rights activist, says, “The children or the slum dwellers in no way benefit from this. Celebrities and foreign dignitaries make it a point to visit slums, street children and girls’ homes. Children are lined up for photo-ops and it just ends there… There is no accountability after that.” This is so significant. Where’s the follow-up? If the donor agencies want to take theses tours for assessment work, it’s fine! But who has given rights to these tourists to invade the privacy & dignity of dwellers? Won’t it cause mental trauma for the children? It definitely will. And who’s going to take the responsibility of protecting them from foreign pedophiles?

If this is way of raising funds to help eradicate poverty, it is, by all means, a totally unacceptable & unethical way of doing it. To me it’s not a worthy initiative to be applauded; rather a shameful voyeuristic ‘poorism’, we better ward off.