Like most of her fellow Slumdog Millionare Child actors, Rubina Ali Qureshi is poor. British sensationalist newspaper News of the World claims Rubina's father tried to sell her through illegal adoption for 200,000 (USD 400,000 or roughly Rs. 1.8 crores) pounds. An opportunist father? A father driven to desperate acts by chronic poverty and increasing responsibilities? Depends on who is looking, from where.

Can a parent put up a child for adoption if he cannot give her a good life? What is the harm in giving a girl up for adoption if you find good people? I don't know. I know the moral issue involved, taking a kid away from her mother and all that, but what about the kid's future? I think about the  saying, "To be born is to be very brave."

Dennis Lehane's novel "Gone Baby Gone" deals with the abduction of a girl, whose mother is a drug addict/pusher, by a high-ranking police officer who wants to give the girl a better life.

Could Rubina lead a good life if she had a better upbringing - beginning with a good schooling?