DIPANKAR GUPTA Slumdogs arouse instant interest because they laugh, bark, bite and bitch out in the open. They gambol in the sun and the rain without shoes, but can plot in alleyways for blood, lucre and less. Their lives are hard and brittle, but when they are generous they can make you cry. As this rapid play of emotions is there for all to see, we are alternately repelled, attracted and awestruck. When they are chuckling and playful, we wonder how laughter can crack through poverty. When they claw and scratch we put it down to their bestial nature. We see them one act at a time: one winsome smile, one cruel swipe, a suckling child, a leery ganglord. Slumdogs can break your heart and smash your face, but always in full view. The truth is that we are not very different from them. We go through the same feelings too, but much of them covertly backstaged. The higher we go up the ladder, the less our emotions are on display. When we at last come to royalty any public show of fee...