Madonna visited a
crowded slum in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, where
impoverished residents showered her with rose and marigold
petals. Madonna didn't speak to journalists, and a New
York-based spokeswoman for the 49-year-old
singer wasn't immediately available for comment. She was
accompanied by her husband, Guy Ritchie, and Australian
author Gregory David Roberts, who made the Mumbai slum
his home in the early 1980s.
Millions of
people live in makeshift huts in slums along railway lines
and roads in Mumbai, India's financial and entertainment
center. Wearing a black jacket, T-shirt, and jeans,
Madonna spent nearly 45 minutes with residents of the
downtown shanty township.
Roberts worked
for the city's crime bosses and set up a free health
clinic in the slum when he took refuge in Mumbai after
escaping from an Australian high-security prison. The
slum features prominently in Roberts's best-seller
Shantaram, which is being adapted into a film
starring Johnny Depp and directed by Mira Nair. (AP)