Sudip Mazundar writes in Newsweek recalling how as a youth he left home and then "spent the next five years moving from one slum to another, always a
step ahead of the police":
I might have spent the rest of my life in the slums or in prison if not
for books. By the time I was 6, my parents had taught me to read and
write Bengali. Literature gave me a special refuge. With Jack London
(in translation) I could be a brave adventurer, and with Jules Verne I
could tour the world. I worked my way up to Balzac, Hemingway and
Dostoevsky. I finally began teaching myself English with the help of
borrowed children's books and a stolen Oxford dictionary. For
pronunciation I listened to Voice of America broadcasts and the BBC
World Service on a stolen transistor radio. I would get so frustrated I
sometimes broke into sobs.
With persistence Mazundar was able to master English and become a journalist, but he recognizes that
... most slum dwellers never escape. Neither do their kids ... slums exist, in large part, because they're allowed to exist.
Slumdogs aren't the only ones whose minds need to be opened up.
As Christian publishers, what should our response be?
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction ... keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. (2 Tim. 4:1-2, 5)