Teeming with humanity Dharavi, Mumbai’s largest slum area spreading over 1.7 km and home to about 1 million people, is a non-stop sensory overload.  To call this home to so many a slum denigrates those that have come to make this swampy marshland nestled between Mumbai’s two main rail lines home.   Dharavi generates upwards of $500 million per year as these industrious laborers produce everything from pottery, bread and fancy candy boxes that are sold in high end shops around Mumbai to corrugated cardboard, dyes and furniture.  This is also where everything in Mumbai and even the whole of India comes to be recycled, reused and retired.  Scavengers picking through trash heaps in the city have come to depend on this giant factory of a place to provide for their well-being.

I’ve seen my share of poverty in action but this place shames those that think the poor just want a hand out.  They have come from all over India and as far away as China and Indonesia and the Middle East to find a better life–they have come to Dharavi and made it their home.

It is known that large Indian corporations have purchased large swaths of this once useless land hoping to develop it for commercial purposes.  Without any legal claim to their shanty homes and businesses these residents have few options if a government redevelopment plan is put into action.  In the end I fear this will happen but for now this remains a must see for anyone traveling to India’s many wonders.

Dharavi looking East

Water pipelines intersect Dharavi

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 at 2:29 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.