16-Year-Old Model Living in a Slum: Maleesha Kharwa

Mumbai, considered the financial powerhouse of India with towering skyscrapers, bustling markets, and vibrant streets, is home to a population of twenty-one million. Yet, not all of them are living the dream. There are more than two thousand slum clusters in the city, with millions of people struggling for daily sustenance. One of them was Maleesha Kharwa, a young girl living with her father, younger brother and sister, her uncle, and her cousins, all surviving in conditions far removed from the glitz and glamor of the modeling world she would eventually inhabit. Maleesha Kharwa's early years unfold within the confines of a slum on a secluded waterfront, a setting far removed from the typical childhood environment one might imagine. Born into a world where the skyline is dominated not by skyscrapers but by a vast expanse of makeshift shelters, her story begins amidst a landscape characterized by its dense population and the palpable resolve of its inhabitants to make the best out of their challenging circumstances. Despite that, at the age of five, she already knew that her dream was to become a dancer and model.

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