The Beast And The Prodigy

The Prodigy

Killing the engine to my Mustang. I stopped the car in an overcrowded alley.

" We are on foot from here. My baby won't go any further. "

Darian looked at me like I have grown two heads. Her grip on her thousand dollar purse remains tight.

" Wanna stay or tag along?"

I raise my brow to ask her. And she gulps looking outside our windows.

The people were literally peeping in, admiring my cars beauty. Slowly people start crowding around and I knew we had to move fast before the situation gets out of control.

Picking up as many paper bags as I could. I push open my car door to step out. Suddenly a hundred eyes lock at me and I regret bringing my baby here.

I should have hailed a taxi. 

" Rei wait! Don't leave me here!"

Darian screams from behind me and I look back at her over my shoulder. She was freaking out already. Maybe bringing her along was also a bad idea.

" Put yourself to some use then. Grab some bags. Will you?"

" O.. Kay"

She follows me as I make way through the narrow streets.

What people see here in the biggest slum in the world is dirt, waste, severage and shit. But what I see is  opportunities.

I stare at a 10-foot-tall heap of plastic bottle waste waiting to be recycled.

And my brain starts doing what it loves the most.

Maths.

An average surface area of a heap with a roughly 20 feet base and 10 feet height. Rough volume of 32.124 square feet. Dimensions of a single bottle on an average round of too 2.5 inch diameter,  8 inch height.

2...1...437...7...51

13,457 bottles roughly.

1 kg has 50 plastic bottles. So 13457 comes out to be 269 kg.

Considering the kind of bottles these are, one kg will fetch minimum 27 Rs per kg in the market. Making the worth of this pile of waste bottles to be roughly 269 into 27 I.e Rs 7263

Not a bad deal. They are cleaning our environment and also drawing profit from it.

" I can't breathe here dammit! Do something Rei! The stink...is unbearable.  "

Darian cries from behind and I turn around to sigh. She does overreact at times but not this time,  I couldn't refute her statement.

It does stink here.

" Aghh what is this stink even! It's making me feel dizzy!"

Removing my dupatta, I wrap it around her face like a scarf. Making sure to cover her nose.

" It's leather. This place has a vast leather industry. "

Another opportunity.

" Whatever Rei! Can we please hurry."

I nod at her and we make way through the very narrow streets to reach an opening. It seemed like a cricket match was going on.

Children were running around bare feet in the scorching sun. Their clothes had holes in them while the majority weren't wearing anything except boxers. 

I flinched seeing their burnt skin but they looked least bothered.

Wide smiles brightened their faces.