That place is India – it is not the India of the glossy tourist brochures - instead I spent my time backpacking the real slums and backstreets of India.
As I talked to people and saw them in their day to day lives I could see thier stories.
India is one of the few places in the world which overloads each of your senses.
The sights, the smells, the noise but also your feelings.
At the time I wrote an extensive travel blog, I took over 1500 photos and a full one and a half hours of video.
But at that point to me it was still just a different kind of holiday.
India is one of the few places in the world which overloads each of your senses.
The sights, the smells, the noise but also your feelings.
At the time I wrote an extensive travel blog, I took over 1500 photos and a full one and a half hours of video.
Story Conception
When I had been back home for some time - I was curious.
Why could I not get India out of my mind? As I sat in my comfortable living room, what were those people I saw begging doing at this moment?
I was curious about the lives and stories that are simply never told.
And even if they were told - from our western world viewpoint - we would still not get it.
So I started by gathering about twenty key images from my trip.
I then weaved a complex story of fiction and interesting characters and locations from those images into the story.
I then weaved a complex story of fiction and interesting characters and locations from those images into the story.
You can see these actual photographs which form the basis for the book below.
The result was the novel ‘The boy and the bucket – a story of humanity’.
If I had to describe the novel in once small sentence, I can genuinely say it is best summed up as being a form of Slumdog Millionaire on steroids.
The boy and the bucket is the story of several family members from an actual Nilgiri mountain tea plantation working village. After significant misfortune, those who survive of the family make their way to Mumbai and have to fight to eat and live by making a meagre living in the Dharavi slum.
Prostitution, starvation, murder, hard work all feature in their life story; as does the effort spending each day looking for any morsel of food that can be found.
The story is told first from my perspective as a backpacker until I meet the boy (Narayana) and hear from his own lips his family’s life and death struggles.
The second part of the book tells the story of Narayanas grandparents (Rajin and Nupee) from their teenage years through their marriage and on to Narayanas fathers (Kshitij) life until he is murdered just before the Narayanas birth.The story goes on to detail his mother’s (Shri) life and later her suspected murder in the Nulgiri mountain tea plantation.
The full story is an absolute roller coaster of emotions, plot and visualisation.
The story currently sits at a very readable 400 pages and over 50 chapters.
Summary
I sincerely hope that you enjoy the novel and will appreciate the story as a unique story blending fact, fiction, actual Indian historical events and my passion for story telling.
Click here for a few free sample reading snippets to get you started.
Most importantly, please link or share this on facebook, twitter or any other means. I would appreciate your help to get it out there - especially if you enjoy the story.
Darren Gosnell
boybucket@gmail.com |
| My camp on the night camp on the Salvation Army Hostel. |
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| Inside the dining room and showing the dorm rooms of the Salvation Army Hostel |
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| Seen from the dining room where I stayed on the floor. This photo also shows the dorm rooms of the Salvation Army Hostel |
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| This photo also shows the shared toilet of the Salvation Army hostel. This was possibly the best toilet I saw in India. |
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| This is a photo I actually took of one of the notice boards which I detail in the book. Mikhelas notice is based on this actual photo |
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| And of course a photo I took of the taxi upon which I based the lovable waggling Idrish character from. |
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| These few photos I took in the chicken and fish processing plant. This place does exist (although the room out the back described later in the book does not) |
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| As in the book I became trapped between this very cow and the motorbikes |
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| My photo of the magnificent Taj Hotel. Just a couple of streets away from the hostel |
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| As I outlined in the book, these workers are working without any safety gear on the gateway to India monument. |
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| The boot house on Malabar Hill. (this is the only photo on this page which is not taken by myself). Below people sleep around the park grounds. |
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| The pipe workshop photo which I modelled Mr Prakesh's business upon and below are some nearby specialist work craft shops also mentioned. Also shown is the "titanium cutter" |
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| I even have a photo of the chili corn while I travelled from Mumbai toward Nilgiri in the south.This is what I mentioned that Ajit and the family ate on their way northward. |
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| This photo is taken inside the VT Station |
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| A village hut. I photographed this from the train which climbs the Nilgiri Mountain railway. |
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| One of the many tea plantations seen from the Nilgiri Mountain railway |
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| One of the mountain villages as seen from the Nilgiri Mountain railway. I modelled the story around this actual village. You can even see the shade tree mentioned in the story in the foreground. |
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| Nilgiri Mountain |
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| If you have read the book already, you will know that this is the woman who Nupee is based upon. In the book this was the old womans job - just as it is this poor womans work. |
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| In the book I describe this scene. In actual fact I took this picture in Kolkata. But you could see this in Mumbai also. |
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