Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Asha and her family travel to Vidarbha, a rural region of Maharashtra, to visit with family. Asha was a field worker in her youth and was accustomed to backbreaking work and abject poverty. Although recent reforms and government aid meant to help rural workers, the rural suicide rate is high. Some resort to self-immolation or drinking pesticide when the situation seems hopeless. Anil, one of Asha’s relatives, tells how he came to Mumbai to seek more opportunities. After living on the streets and attempting—fruitlessly—to hire himself out as a day laborer, Anil returned to Vidarbha, disgraced.

As a college-educated girl, Manju is highly regarded in the village. Seeing rural poverty firsthand, she is afraid that Asha will arrange her marriage to a farmer and decides she would rather run away than let this happen.

Back in Annawadi, Asha has to take college classes or face losing her temporary teaching job. She has begun to study higher-class people and imitate their clothing and interactions. Multiple marriage offers have come in for Manju, including one from a widow in Mauritius. However, Manju has other options that seem more lucrative to Asha, including selling insurance. Manju studies and passes her insurance exams but ultimately does not know anyone who can afford to buy insurance.