The Slums of Mumbai

Dharabi, Mumbai

Imagine 1.1 million people living within 0.67 square miles, comparable to Yankee Stadium's grounds. There is 1 toilet per 1440 person, and 300 square feet to share with 15 others. 

Once the largest slum in all of Asia, Dharavi is edged only slightly by its brother, the Karachi Orangi Township in neighboring Pakistan. Dharavi remains to be an urban-planning nightmare with Mumbai's looming intent to reconstruct new housing, schools, roads, and infrastructure for 57,000 families, allowing only small businesses established after 2000 to return to the area. It has been a fiery issue within burgeoning Mumbai's planning department, but American-trained architect, Mukesh Mehta, the brainchild behind the massive redevelopment plan, claims it will work soundly.

Or will it?

On foot, I was able to traverse along a few areas of Dharavi. The scene is electric. Small shops are brimming with business and the people are welcoming. I had a chance to sit down with a printmaker who ran a small print business for Mumbai's greeting card and invitation industry. He has been in Dharavi all his life. This was his home and the business was his baby. Another man named Mr. Isaac ran a Christian bookstore operation. He lived in the suburbs of Mumbai and commuted every day to Dharavi to run his shop as a mission to the people of the community.

There was of course, the typical visual characteristics we know so well as westerners of these slums, thanks to a 'wonderful' movie called Slumdog Millionaire. Little children running around in what looked like raw sewage. Rusted metal decking as rooftops. But that isn't the entire story. To my great surprise, Dharavi is immensely self-sustaining, producing and exporting their own goods to the rest of the world. In a sense, resettlement via redevelopment may cause more harm than good to the community. To these people, Dharavi is home.

I remember sitting in silence in my hotel room the morning before I left for the slums. I was expecting my heart to be ripped open by the images I knew and have seen. Instead, I found smiles, greetings, and handshakes from some of the most sincere people I've ever met. The images of a boy named Sashlik and a certain bald young toddler girl with a red purse will stay in memory with me.

There is a story to be told here in Mumbai. I will never forget today.