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 Kolkata's 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,
Swapan's volunteering the little time he has left
to organise his neighbourhood's Durga Puja celebration.
But he's not just on his local committee for the prestige -
he hopes that the Goddess Durga's 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.
Swapan's excited about his contribution to this year's 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 family's 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 family's 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, he's finally got enough to get photos taken for his portfolio
to send off to the city's acting agencies.
But while he's 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.
It's 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 family's 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.
It's 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.
Sujit's 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.
He's 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.
Sujit's 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.
It's an unlikely oasis,
but it supplies Kolkata's 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 we're 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 Gondal's reeled in enough money to pay the family's food bill for the day, he heads home.
We're 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 brother's education.
Six months ago, he talked his way into a job as a cleaner on a luxury yacht, moored close to his home.
Prakash's daily brush with the high life is a constant reminder
that he's 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.
It's 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 they're 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.
It's 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.
Swapan's keeping a close eye on his fish pond.
With the opening in just two days, Swapan's given the go ahead
to source his fish for the pandal.
After a full night's work at his market, Swapan sets off to make his purchase.
He goes to the market that sells the wetlands fish,
farmed in the city's 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 he's fighting a losing battle.
But he's not one to let a business opportunity go to waste.
Cheers!
The stress hasn't taken long to find Swapan's 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!
It's 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.
It's 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,
it's a buyers' market and Gondal's struggling to shift his balls.
Tough market conditions demand bigger balls.
Gondal's strategy soon pays off.
With 600 rupees fresh in his pocket, it's a bumper day.
There's not a moment to lose.
The festival is in full swing
and the city's out for a good time.
Sujit's 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 Swapan's, the pandal's being finished in the nick of time.
And with the pond filled with water,
he can at last deliver a fresh load of fish.
There's just time for Swapan and the family to put on the new clothes
they've 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 it's time to party!
Swapan's daughters aren't 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.
They're closing their own circle and returning to Mother Ganga.
Next morning,
Sujit's up early again.
With so many extra tea drinkers in the city for the festival,
he's busier than ever and has had a run of record sales.
He's 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,
Sujit's 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 festival's 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.
It's carnival time!
Hey-hey!
The festivities may have been extravagant,
but the leftovers won't 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 didn't land the part in the soap.
But the casting agency HAVE put him on their books.
He's 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!
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd