Episode 3 Welcome to India

Don't you think it's astounding that our planet supports

seven billion of us?

BABY CRIES

And counting.

Learning to survive in a crowded world is our biggest challenge.

But there's one corner where we're already well on our way to adapting.

Welcome to India.

Over one in six in the world live here

and, in a few years, will be the most populous nation on earth.

We're resourceful.

And we're tactical at playing the long game.

It's not just the here and now that matters.

Still I'm waiting for one chance.

It's the future of our family over generations to come.

The cycle of life might be one of our spiritual beliefs,

but in a crowded world, it's also a material opportunity

for a better future.

A WALTZ PLAYS

Meet Swapan, one of the shrewdest dealers in Kolkata¹s main fish market.

Swapan has fish sent up from the Ganges delta every night.

Amid cut-throat competition,

he employs every tactic to sell them at the best possible price.

Having started his working day at 3.00am,

Swapan heads home for a short rest.

He lives with his wife, Ruma, and his two daughters, Ahana and Anesha.

On top of his all-consuming fish business,

Swapan¹s volunteering the little time he has left

to organise his neighbourhood¹s Durga Puja celebration.

But he¹s not just on his local committee for the prestige

he hopes that the Goddess Durga¹s blessings will help his business.

All over the city, rich and poor

are building fantastical temporary structures known as a "pandals"

to show their devotion and creativity

and, ideally, to upstage the neighbours.

Swapan¹s excited about his contribution to this year¹s design.

The committee are still considering his ambitious plan

of a stocked pond as the star attraction.

The responsibility for supporting the family is a huge, all-consuming task.

From the moment our kids start school,

the expectation of expanding the family¹s fortunes is placed squarely on their shoulders.

Welcome to Cuffe Parade.

This illegal settlement in the thick of down-town Mumbai

is home to two brothers facing the full pressure of their family¹s ambition.

I...

love...

you.

Prakash is striving to launch his lifelong dream -

to be a Bollywood actor.

Prakash lives in the family one up, one down.

He shares it with his parents, his elder brother and sister,

their partners and their young kids.

MUSIC PLAYS ON MOBILE

HE SINGS ALONG

MUSIC: "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson

Prakash has secretly been putting aside

some of the salary from his job in the harbour.

After six months, he¹s finally got enough to get photos taken for his portfolio

to send off to the city¹s acting agencies.

But while he¹s busy chasing the Bollywood dream...

..his younger brother Mangesh is about to come home from his first year

studying software engineering at a Bangalore university.

It¹s a contrast not lost on their mother.

Smile.

Our dreams of a better life

must be given the best possible chance of success.

So focusing a family¹s combined resources on our most promising child

is simply a pragmatic strategy.

Once a family has carved out a lucrative business,

it can be passed down the generations for as long as it remains profitable.

Clay tea cups are essential for the serious chai drinkers of Kolkata,

and their demand is guaranteed by being disposable.

It¹s an ingenious use of local mud.

Sujit turns this clay from the Ganges into several thousand cups a day,

working 13 days in every fortnight.

For all their ingenuity, Sujit and his colleagues need to run a slick operation to make ends meet.

Sujit¹s own wife and kids live in his village, 400 miles away.

Renting space here is simply too expensive.

Like many who come to work in the city,

Sujit sleeps where he works and can only return home every six months.

He¹s hoping that the approaching Durga Puja festival

will boost sales enough for his family to visit.

But, for now, he tries not to dwell on the situation.

Drink.

Sujit¹s workshop is a short stroll from the Ganges handy for bath-time,

not to mention the all-important mud.

For us, the Ganges is a sacred being.

We worship her as a goddess.

She can wash away the sins of a lifetime,

and when we die, she bears us up to heaven.

She also performs more everyday tasks,

satisfying the needs of the mega-city of Kolkata,

and washing its effluent away down choked canals and into large shallow lakes.

These man-made wetlands are the largest sewage-fed fisheries in the world.

The decomposing waste from the city

nourishes the ponds' ecosystem,

which feeds the fish of over 250 fish farms.

It¹s an unlikely oasis,

but it supplies Kolkata¹s 15 million people with 30% of their fish

a recycling service care of the mighty Ganges.

Swapan, the fish merchant, has come down to the river

to mark the final run-up to the Durga Puja festival.

Swapan and his fellow bathers are praying that their forefathers

will bestow health and wealth upon them.

No pilgrimage to Mother Ganga is complete without devoting some hard cash.

But we¹re happy to make money here, too.

Gondal and his best friend, Rajesh,

use the magnets from old speakers for their very own form of trawling.

It's the river that provides 19-year-old Gondal and his family with their main income.

Gondal and his entire extended family

live on unclaimed land just a couple of hundred metres down the river bank.

Once Gondal¹s reeled in enough money to pay the family¹s food bill for the day, he heads home.

We¹re not ashamed to dream of being rich.

For us, wealth is, quite simply, the mark of success.

Prakash is at work, earning the cash for his brother¹s education.

Six months ago, he talked his way into a job as a cleaner on a luxury yacht, moored close to his home.

Prakash¹s daily brush with the high life is a constant reminder

that he¹s still waiting for a response from the acting agencies.

One, two, three, four!

Five, six, seven, eight! Stop!

To keep his moves up to scratch,

he runs a free dance class for kids from his illegal settlement.

MUSIC PLAYS

Four. Five.

Six.

Seven.

Come here.

Shake!

Lovely. Come on! Six...

Dance is huge here, and not just as escapism.

Lovely, lovely!

It can be a real route to fame and fortune.

One, two. One, two. Relax.

11...

12...

OK?

HORNS BLARE

Prakash is especially excited tonight.

His brother is back from university in Bangalore.

It¹s the first time Mangesh has been home in six months.

Very nice!

That's called...

With only days to go before Durga Puja,

Sujit is up early to tackle his first task of the day.

HOLLOW CLICKING

Getting just 25 rupees or 30 pence - for every 100 cups,

Sujit's lucky if he keeps back 2,000 rupees

or £25 a month.

But he's got a plan to increase his margins

that might allow him to have his family stay in the city, too.

He wants to rent a space like this

to stockpile cups when they¹re easy to make in the dry season,

and sell them at the top of the market when drying is hampered by the monsoon.

Right now, Sujit is missing his family more than ever.

Teacups are not the only use for Ganges mud in this part of town.

It¹s in huge demand for the upcoming Durga Puja festival

and is being shipped in by the boat load.

Hundreds of artists apply the sticky river mud over a wood and straw structure

to create vibrant idols of Goddess Durga and her exotic entourage.

Swapan, the fish merchant, and his daughter are here to collect the idol

commissioned for their neighbourhood pandal.

Back at the pandal itself,

the cave-like structure has been progressing fast.

Swapan¹s keeping a close eye on his fish pond.

With the opening in just two days, Swapan¹s given the go ahead

to source his fish for the pandal.

After a full night¹s work at his market, Swapan sets off to make his purchase.

He goes to the market that sells the wetlands fish,

farmed in the city¹s waste water.

Playing the customer is a new experience for Swapan.

A last-minute splash of colour with some goldfish,

and the morning's haul is sped back to the pandal.

GIRL SCREAMS

LAUGHTER

Swapan realises he¹s fighting a losing battle.

But he¹s not one to let a business opportunity go to waste.

Cheers!

The stress hasn¹t taken long to find Swapan¹s big weakness.

Aaaah!

In Mumbai, Prakash has just received a call from one of the agencies he sent his portfolio to.

They want him to come in and audition for a part in a TV soap opera.

Thanks!

It¹s the break Prakash has been waiting so long for.

Mangesh comes along for support.

Prakash!

-Ready?

-OK.

Action!

Oh, God!

Cut!

Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

In Kolkata, the energy levels are mounting

for the great, four-day Durga Puja festival starting tomorrow.

Gondal and his friends on the riverbank have spotted a new opportunity.

Everyone across the city will need Ganges mud to place in front of their Mother Durga idols.

It¹s a heaven-sent opportunity to cash in.

Gondal and two friends spend the night shaping his mud pile

into conveniently sized balls.

At sunrise, representatives from every pandal pour down to the river

and celebrate the start of the festival with a dip in the Ganges.

But with so many holy mud-ball sellers here,

it¹s a buyers' market and Gondal¹s struggling to shift his balls.

Tough market conditions demand bigger balls.

Gondal¹s strategy soon pays off.

With 600 rupees fresh in his pocket, it¹s a bumper day.

There¹s not a moment to lose.

The festival is in full swing

and the city¹s out for a good time.

Sujit¹s joining the crowds visiting the 2,000 or more pandals

across Kolkata.

On top of the 15 million-odd residents,

thousands of visitors have poured into the city for the celebrations.

At Swapan¹s, the pandal¹s being finished in the nick of time.

And with the pond filled with water,

he can at last deliver a fresh load of fish.

There¹s just time for Swapan and the family to put on the new clothes

they¹ve bought for the occasion.

First, they pay their respects at their pandal.

Mother Durga, personifying the triumph of good over evil,

is reborn out of the Ganges mud for the duration of the festival.

Showing her our devotion is important for securing future success and prosperity.

Then it¹s time to party!

Swapan¹s daughters aren¹t the only thrill seekers.

Swapan decides to take the family to pay their respects to the holy Ganges.

But to get there, they pass through a different kind of ceremony.

Even as the city celebrates, some of its charges

have come to the end of their stay.

They¹re closing their own circle and returning to Mother Ganga.

Next morning,

Sujit¹s up early again.

With so many extra tea drinkers in the city for the festival,

he¹s busier than ever and has had a run of record sales.

He¹s decided to send for his wife, two-year-old daughter and new baby.

They have boarded a train to the city and are due to arrive any moment.

For the first time in over eight months,

Sujit sees his wife, Shila,

and meets baby Kajal at last.

Flush with his festival bonus,

Sujit¹s managed to put down a deposit on a room close to his work.

But to pay the rent, the room must earn its keep.

DRUMS BEAT, HORNS BLARE

The festival¹s at an end.

FRENZIED SHOUTING

The idols must be taken out of their pandals,

and transported back towards the river where they came from.

WOMAN ULULATES

DRUMS BEAT

We may be sad to see Mother Durga go,

but we make sure we send her off in style.

It¹s carnival time!

Hey-hey!

Hey-hey!

Hey-hey!

The festivities may have been extravagant,

but the leftovers won¹t go to waste.

Next morning, Gondal and his friends are watching the river more intently than ever.

Once the idols have been stripped of mud and straw,

Gondal will sell the wooden frames

back to their makers.

And as for Prakash? He didn¹t land the part in the soap.

But the casting agency HAVE put him on their books.

He¹s spending every spare moment with his dance class.

He's honing his moves,

ready for his next big break.

# Watcha gonna do

# Ha-ha! With the party? Yeah!

# Ha-ha! With the party? Yeah!

# Ha-ha! With the party? Yeah!

# Ha-ha! With the party? Yeah!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd