From the plush boardrooms in IT parks where he takes classes on cloud computing, Pradeep Niligiri dreams of a start-up. “I want to launch a mobile app in the space of food delivery. I have been working on it for some time. I have studied the models of other food delivery apps and I can say that mine will be very different,” says the 30-year-old techie from Hyderabad.
Pradeep works in the vicinity of T-Hub, India’s biggest start-up incubator but has lived all his life in one of Asia’s largest slums, Addagutta.
The public toilets were demolished and there are as many as 40 households where people defecate in the open.
Inside Addagutta, the tin sheet-roofed house of Pradeep has been renovated to make way for a multi-storied concrete structure.
“It has just been six months that we constructed new floor and painted the house,” shares a visibly content Pradeep with a smile and points to the wall at his latest acquisition - LCD TV.
For Pradeep, who grew up watching his mother toiling to segregate betel leaves for a paltry sum and father slog as a temporary office boy, life is changing slowly for the better.
“We struggled to have two square meals a day. My brother and I went to a Telugu-medium government school since my parents could not afford to send us to a private school.”
In the same breath, he says with an air of confidence, “I will send my child to a very reputed school in town, an international school. I will give him the best education.”
The interiors of Pradeep’s house can easily pass off as a house in a middle class colony with a fully furnished kitchen and bedrooms, air coolers and impressive flooring.
The family is now more close-knit than ever as all of them stay together. “My parents did not travel much in their life. So I took them to Delhi, Mumbai and other places for a holiday,” he says admitting that he wants to keep his family happy and move up the social strata.
The narrow by-lanes in Addagutta throw up surprises in the form of sudden drainage overflows, irregular power cuts.
At a hair-cutting saloon, the entry of a person creates a commotion with people shaking hands and talking to a person sporting a Virat Kohli haircut. He is Rahul Bose, a local style icon, who believes in living fashionably.
“Anything related to latest trends and film industry, just ask him,” this is how Rahul is introduced. On a sunny and humid day, Rahul doesn’t shy away from flaunting his latest jacket and stylish sneakers. “I dabble in a lot of things. Sitting at one place and doing a routine job is not my cup of tea,” says Rahul, an emcee cum event organizer. “I can earn decently by working just ten days a month. I have formed a group of professionals who are designers, dancers and musicians. Whenever we get work we distribute it among ourselves and make sure we do a great job.”
Rahul lives in a two-room house in the interiors of Addagutta breaking away from the social mould that helped him carve a unique identity. “I have a fashion show coming up which is keeping me busy,” he says “But over the weekends or whenever I am free, I like to party and frequent pubs.”
The lot of younger generation at Addagutta is different from their elders. They are rebellious, aggressive and ambitious reaching out to lifestyles their parents could never dream of.
“I will buy properties but can never shift from here. This is home and they are my family members,” says Pradeep.
