Discovering Dharavi

My first impression of Dharavi, as a child was that it was a place to buy leather goods.We often passed this route on our way back from our favourite breakfast joint in Matunga.I remember dadaji, taking me to this place,and buying me probably my first expensive leather bag. It was for 450 ruppes

It was only when I read Kalpana Sharma`s book Rediscovering Dharavi, when I got a whole new perspective on Dharavi, and on it being such a big industry in the middle of the city, so that time onwards, I have always wanted to visit this slum, finally after weeks of trying to convince people to come along we finally took the Dharavi, Reality tour.

Reality tours is a company which organizes tours of Dharavi, markets of Mumbai, Dhobi Ghatt, Kamathipura etc . Any one can take the tour on their own too, Its just 400 bucks per person,

Dharavi Diary
At 9:30a.m we arrive at Mahim Station. I tell my friend, I wonder how we will spot the guide.There were couple of firangs standing there, too, so he told me be assured we are in right place, considering there are so many firangs over here, they would definitely be taking the tour. The guide arrived in Reality tour T-shirt, he told us to wait a couple of minutes, before he took the five of us. Two of them were foreigners and it was 3 of us Desi .
We walked with Sunil over the common bridge of Mahim station, before he began the tour he gave us some statistics on the no of people who stay here etc, and instructed us to not take pictures. He told us they had the required police permission

Industries we visited

Plastic Recycling Industry
This is one of the biggest industries in Dharavi. This is exactly the place you can find your old broken doll, the plastic coverings of your television/ remote/ computer. Any thing that has some bit of plastic. The plastic is sorted out, every metallic part in it is removed. Once its sorted its put into a crushing machine, where its formed into minute granules. They look like small beads in varied colours which are kept to dry on the terraces. We walked up 2 storeys of one such terrace made out of patra metal strips which was little scary. I was worried, and hoped not to break the patra terrace and also come down with it . Thank fully I survived, and so did the terrace.
After this beads are dried for sometime they are again put in a machine melted and a single uniform colour is put in to form single coloured granules which are used in industries. Well the fumes that we inhaled and what this workers inhale is nothing less than dangerous. I could smell the carbon in the air. Its really sad that some of the biggest industrialists who own industries here, don’t live here, they live in Malbar hill and the expensive neighborhoods of Mumbai, one of owners had a 7 series BMW, he had discreetly hidden it behind one of the garages. There is no workers safety, they have huge health risks. It amazes me how people work here, and survive, with so many movies being made, NGO`s working here, why doesn’t anyone raise an alarm about one of the most atrocious types of Human labour in our city


Clothing & bakery
Our next stop was a small bakery. Over 100 kg of Khari biscuits are made and sold every day. There was a beeline of bakery walas outside his small 3 room industry, where khari biscuits and pav, are churned out every hour of the day and night.The clothing industry was probably one of the industries with the safest working conditions. Men sat peacefully working on their machines, trying to finish as many pieces as possible, as they would be paid according to the job work

Leather industry
As we walked out of one of the slum schools, I saw a huge truck piled with stacks and stacks of goat/cow skin. After seeing that image I have vowed to never buy anything of leather. My friend Christina tried, to calm me down by telling me that it was just a by product after they killed animals for meat. However I will continue to use the leather bag I have, coz I have already committed the sin, but wont buy anything new


Kumbhar Vada
The potters quarters, this was one of favourite stops. Apparently over 100 Kumbhar families live here. They make pots in various shapes and sizes. But interestingly the mud comes in trucks from Gujrat. If you give them a sample of any cutlery they can mould and make it for you. I have personally purchased a mud clay dinner set with glasses, couple of years back, and it continues to me one of my favorite crockery possessions

Apart from this we all saw some packing industries, where soap is weighed and packed, Currogated boxes, are made to order according to requirement or old ones are repaired and resold. The recycling of Paint boxes and big oil cans and home industries of papad

What is amazing is a the cultural amalgam that this slum houses, There is one section which is the muslim ilaka, one which is south indians, the maharashtrians, the kumbhars. There are couple of mosques & temples .Our guide tells us that after the riots things have become low key, and all communities don’t interact as before. The houses that people live in our really small less than 100-200 sq feet. It amazes me on how their entire life fits in so well, right from their living room, kitchen, television all in that one little place. Houses are located in small tiny little lanes, if I lived here, I am sure I would have been lost trying to find my home

The real problem is for children, there are schools in the slum, but even parents who earn enough to send their kids to better schools cant do that, coz the minute they see Dharavi in the address, they stop accepting the admission form, so they try to put sion or mahim in the address

About the Guide
Our guide, Sunil was very interesting guy. He spoke good English and he himself lives in a slum in Mankhurd. He came back to Mumbai to study and work. He finished his 12th, worked with a pizza chain, a call center, managing a chai shop, till he read about this job, and has been working here for the past 6 months. The fact that he himself lives in a slum, he is able to give a better picture to all of us. He seemed like a really hardworking boy, I do wish him all the best, and hope he succeeds in whatever he does.

To get more some more insights buy the book Rediscovering Dharavi

Or read Sattus blog http://www.bombaylives.com/index.php/dharavi-reality-tour.html


To take the tour vist http://www.realitytoursandtravel.com/privatelongtour.html