Dharavi………slum to slumdog millionare

Severage and shanties co-existing

While I was reading ‘Shantaram’ by Gregory David Roberts which describes Dharavi so well that I had my imaginary picture of how Dharavi would be like. Slumdog Millionare added few more bricks in the wall. But walk through Dharavi changed the picture.

I recently joined couchsurfing and incidently landed upon this event organized by Mr. Ganesh sonar who does Dharavi walk through. He is a local resident and does this event for free to promote Dharavi and change the picture that the world has painted of Dharavi.

The place derives its name from Daar which means door in Marathi- as the place is located at the site of the doors to the island of Mumbai, and hence name ‘Dharavi’.

Housing over 1 million people, Dharavi is undoubtedly one of the largest slum in Asia. Story dates back to 1882 where the slum came up during British Colonial era and blew out of proportion because of spurt in migration of rural Indians to urban Mumbai. As you walk through you will realize that Dharavi is a home to various religions, sects and undoubtedly a highly multi-religious, multi-ethnic, and diverse settlement.

As you start the journey you get into Kumbharwada, which means residence of Potters you see pots of varieties and shapes. Few potters from Gujarat came here to set up a pottery and sell pots. Slowly and steadily a stream of potters flocked in and set up an entire society of potters.

Still today, the potters use the old style of making pots on a wheel.

Infact the potters burn the pots in the same area where they stay. As you walk by you will realise that most of the houses have turned black by soot emanating from burning of pots. Many people in the area suffer from asthama and tuberclosis. Many builders have initiated building projects but alas with no alternative means of work.

Before moving to the industrial area we passed by few buildings which were brightly painted by a gentleman from Russia. Ganesh said that around 4 years back a painter had come from Russia and he was not happy with the walls of the building. So he took all the efforts and took permission from authorities, got cranes and painted these buildings. No body knows his name but at some painting there was Gomez written so people presumed that the painters name is Gomez. Well name does not matter, his beautiful work does.

As you move towards the recycling industrial area you will notice that there is chaos everywhere. But amongst chaos, there is order. Each piece of waste has a purpose and every one has a job to ensure that the waste is put into order.

The slum is a hub for recycling, with thousands of tons of plastics and metals making their way here each day to be turned into new products. Plastics were being sorted in small shanties depending on colours and being shredded into tiny pieces and reformed into tiny pellets and shipped out to make new products. Though hygiene and safety standards is a big question mark.

Interesting fact being the shredding machine is custom made in Dharavi.

The slum is also home skilled dress-makers and leather workers, who dye and stitch clothes, bags, wallets, shoes and anything else you can think of.  You will also see hosts of bakeries baking out the famous ‘Khari’ and ‘Toasts’ for Mumbai.

labourer working after a tiring day

Each house typically has one room of around 10 sq mts and is a home for around 4 to 8 people. If lucky enough they have made ground plus two or three. Though its illegal and dangerous, I guess people in this area are friends with danger.

With the Gutters overflowing and water overflowing out of pipes which provides sanitized water to Dharavi you walk across electrical wire hanging at head, cracked pavements and faint chemical smell. Due to lot of chemical processing units like aluminium, the fumes are highly toxic. But labourers work for around 12 hours and sleep at the same place after work. They work for all little salary as Rs.100/- per day and basic hygienic conditions don’t exist. They still smile and entertain guests and explain them the process in their tuty fruity hinglish.

As you walk by you will come across to the sophisticated koliwada which does not look like a part of Dharavi. Classy and well decorated homes leaves you wondering how come both the world co-exist.

Though you come across leather stores, but visiting leather making units is not allowed, so had to satisfy with the stores displaying leather products.

As I parted ways with Ganesh, and passing through the dense streets I was thinking how Dharavi is a reality for millions of people and how they treat this reality with respect and dignity.

The last dialogue of Salim from Slum Dog Millionare of Danny Boyle lingers in my mind “God is Great”.