In an India divided by prosperity and poverty, whose dreams come true?— At 7 a.m., Rupali Rao Kilare starts getting ready for the day in the cramped home she shares with five family members.
Throwing on a blazer and stylish heels, she hops in an Uber to her office at an international tech firm, decorated with marble flooring and hanging plants. Kilare has ambitions too. But the grueling, never-ending demands of her daily life highlight how much less accessible those dreams can be for some. “I wanted to be a teacher after completing my studies,” she said. "But life had different plans.”
Verma poses for a photograph with her parents at her family’s apartment in the Goregaon district of Mumbai.Kilare, meanwhile, has never moved from the slum where she was born and raised with her sister and two brothers. Her life was turbulent from the start, she said, as her father struggled with alcoholism — forcing his family to support themselves.
Adding to the weight on her young shoulders was a $250 loan she took out to care for her mother’s health — which took two years to pay back. “I was never one of those kids who came first in class ... but I think with luck and the kind of personality I developed over the years, I was able to crack the interview and I was able to get into ,” she said, pointing to the networking skills she’d learned from her father.
With little choice, they moved back to Mumbai, where Kilare’s former employers hired her back as a cleaner while her husband got a job as a school clerk. “Still, the money we earn is not enough,” Kilare said. Together, they make about $200 a month – which goes toward supporting family members and repaying the loan.
On quieter days she plays ukulele at home, or drinks tea with her parents on their small balcony overlooking the park. They’re a tight-knit family; her parents poke gentle fun at each other, and the household is often filled with laughter. “Even when you're walking on the street, you see this sort of disparity, but at the same time you appreciate the kind of effort these people are putting in day in, day out,” she said. “I have to come to an air-conditioned office every day. But at the same time, I do realize that the Uber guy who's dropping me off is somebody who has to do at least 20 trips to make ends meet.”
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