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Sunday 19th October - day 58
Mumbai
After some difficulty locating the hostel after the bus journey, via the metro and a rickshaw driver who has no teeth, we finally arrive at the homestay.
We manage a hour chill out on the sofa and then head out to the reality tour of the dharavi slum, via the metro and local trains..once again - that is an experience in itself. Doors dont exsist on the trains and people hang out as its moving for the breeze. As the trains come into the stations people just can't wait for it to stop before they start hurling themselves off..the crowds surge forward regardless of anyone trying to get off. If you're not ready to jump off at the doors of your stop..prepare to miss it and be propelled obwards to the next stop. 2nd class is only 10 rupees and 1st is 100.. so its clear why 1st class is pretty civil and quiet and 2nd looks like a world wars just been announced.
We sit in 1st a few times and hope to play the naive foreigner if we are asked to show our tickets.
During the train journey we pass shacks, the back of slums, run down blocks of flats, smelly drains, people wondering down tracks and even drying their washing out on the unused lines.
Once down in central mumbai its pretty hectic - unsurprisingly as the population is 14 million! The wealth divide is clear, from the train journey experience to the commercial marine drive and chowpatty beach - lined with skyscrapers, posh apartments and art deco, british architecture and lush green parks holding countless games of cricket.
After meeting our guide we are whisked away in a car to the biggest outdoor laundry area. Apparently, full of migrants who live and sleep in the shack, they work 10-12 hours a day for just a few hundred rupees. We also pass through mumbais red light district and initially its hard to spot the prostitutes but pointed out discretely, you pick up on the heavy makeup and non indian attire from the women standing on the sidewalks.
The reason why we have decided to do a tour of the slums rather than alone, is to ensure we are not intrusive or insensitive to the people living there. The organisation is a non profit one and the money from the tour is funded directly back into the community in the form of community centres or schools. No photography allowed..which is reasonable.. its not a zoo afterall.
Dharavi slum was founded in 1880s during the British colonial era. The slum grew in part because of expulsion of factories and residents from peninsular city center by colonial government, and from rural poor migrating into urban Mumbai. By the 1940's once the British left India, and the majority property holders of the area, Shantilal Nemchand and Co sold off there property holdings allowing houses to be built.The total current population of Dharavi slum is unknown, and estimates vary from 300,000 to about a million. With Dharavi spread over 500 acres, this corresponds to an average population density estimate between 600 to 2,000 people per acre.
Once inside the slums themselves, its not too dissimilar from any other indian town - just on a much more dense scale - 4 people in every metre square. Dont get me wrong, the place is dirty.. the floors slighty marsh like and there is clear sanitary issues..with maybe 1 million people living there, thats to be expected.The houses are absolutely tiny, and are tiered one on top of each other, 3 storeys high. Some are made from bricks, others from scrap metal. They however are clean inside, electricity, running water and all pay rent. The alleyways are so tiny and narrow only allowing one person at a time, yet kids are still hurtling themselves about playing games.
Most people are exceptionally friendly saying 'hello' and kids literally cling onto you saying 'hi' and asking your name. We are lead through one of the alleyways out into the kids communal area/playgroud which is a rubbish tip, but happy as larry, they are playing cricket, on homemade swings and rolling old tyres. Once in the commercial part we are shown round various plastic sorting, scrap metal sorting, allumunium moulding, pottery and leather export buisnesses.
Mostly its people working ridiculously hard to make money from anything possible - including other peoples rubbish and scrap. Old cans are literally melted down into alluminum blocks, plastic is sorted and recycled, old paint tins are emptied and repainted and sold on.. its pretty impressive and apparently the gross income from the slums is about $560 million us dollars a year.
The visit gives a whole new perspective on the 'slums' and he people who live there. Its not a dirty unliveable slum of shanty houses, in fact its an affordable alternative housing option, full of hardworking, friendly, community orientated families - taking other peoples trash and turning it into an income.
An educating, inspiring, heartwarming experience, the trip slashes typical western prejudices and assumptions and highlights our ignorance which simultaneously shames me into realising how much I take for granted and how fortunate I, we, really are.
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