East and West collide
Mumbai ... a city of extremes ... a collision between East and West ... exciting, overpopulated (definitely not for the claustrophobic), contrasts of rich and poor. But to focus for a moment on the poor.
Over the years, I have read many news articles describing the Mumbai slums ... questioning how the culture, India, the government, and business should balance the needs of both the slum dwellers and greater Mumbai. Although I was interested in seeing for myself, I wasn't exactly sure how to accomplish. I was afraid of falling into the trap of "poverty-tourism", where tour groups go around gawking at the poor people ... sort of like going to the zoo.
With those concerns in mind, a fellow traveler recommended a Mumbai company, Reality Tours. This is a company working with the local NGO's and contributing 80% of their profits. They have worked with the residents to make sure they are supportive of their endeavors. They forbid any photography (another visualization moment, dear reader) and they keep the tours to five or fewer people. They claim the residents are even a bit fascinated why foreigners would want to see them. And with that preview, one morning I met up with two Indian tour guides to take me on a tour of Dharavi, the biggest slum in Asia.
My preconceived notion was that Dharavi is a place of squalor, poverty and deprivation. I guess to some extent it is, but it's really much more. Dharavi is first and foremost a fascinating place ... it is the heart of small scale industry in Mumbai ($665 million per annum), which is remarkable considering the conditions in which people live. During the tour I saw the dignity, fortitude, friendliness, and enterprise of the people, where they work and live in a very small area (0.7 square miles), with a very high population density (over 1 million people), and yet able to host a plethora of small scale and quite successful industries.
It was helpful to go with a tour guide because, although not dangerous, I got turned around and lost after about the first two turns. There are small alleyways after alleyways. Alleyways so narrow, I sometimes had to turn sideways and scrunch down. Often there is no natural light coming in because they've built up over the alleyways. I was expecting tarps and lean-to's, but the buildings are mostly aging cement. There is no legal electricity, although there were some lights and TV's going. There is no running water and the sewage system (if you could call it that) runs in gutters through the alleyways. You had to be careful where you stepped because the pathway was just blocks covering the sewage gutters and there were sometimes big gaps to jump over. Big, fat, healthy rats are everywhere. Dogs, cats and goats are in abundance. Everyone was friendly and not one single person asked me for money (unheard of in India). The children went to schools run by the local NGO's.
This is an organized business setting ..... each area set up by industry. There's the recycling area where EVERYTHING is recycled for something. The plastics are given to the plastic area where they melt it down, color it, and form into pellets
to sell back to western companies. The ceramics area where a delightful Indian showed me how he made clay pots ... he had an electric potter's wheel and it took him only minutes to make a pot which he did over and over. The huge oil tin area where they are cleaned, returned to their original shape, polished up and sold back. There are shopkeepers supplying goods and services to the residents. The leather and tanning area where they processed the animal skins. The sewing area, embroidery area, mattress area, laundry area (this was the one photo ban exception), soap factory, and on and on.
What were my thoughts after seeing Dharavi? Emphatically, this was not the stereotypical and cliche filled view of slum dwellers. I saw industry and hardworking people. That being said, I was troubled in seeing their hard work in such simple, impoverished conditions. How does the business community contribute, for better or worse, to these conditions? I was expecting to see misery ... instead I saw a proud people, people who were focused on their day-to-day families and lives, an enterprising people.
Over the years, I have read many news articles describing the Mumbai slums ... questioning how the culture, India, the government, and business should balance the needs of both the slum dwellers and greater Mumbai. Although I was interested in seeing for myself, I wasn't exactly sure how to accomplish. I was afraid of falling into the trap of "poverty-tourism", where tour groups go around gawking at the poor people ... sort of like going to the zoo.
With those concerns in mind, a fellow traveler recommended a Mumbai company, Reality Tours. This is a company working with the local NGO's and contributing 80% of their profits. They have worked with the residents to make sure they are supportive of their endeavors. They forbid any photography (another visualization moment, dear reader) and they keep the tours to five or fewer people. They claim the residents are even a bit fascinated why foreigners would want to see them. And with that preview, one morning I met up with two Indian tour guides to take me on a tour of Dharavi, the biggest slum in Asia.
My preconceived notion was that Dharavi is a place of squalor, poverty and deprivation. I guess to some extent it is, but it's really much more. Dharavi is first and foremost a fascinating place ... it is the heart of small scale industry in Mumbai ($665 million per annum), which is remarkable considering the conditions in which people live. During the tour I saw the dignity, fortitude, friendliness, and enterprise of the people, where they work and live in a very small area (0.7 square miles), with a very high population density (over 1 million people), and yet able to host a plethora of small scale and quite successful industries.
It was helpful to go with a tour guide because, although not dangerous, I got turned around and lost after about the first two turns. There are small alleyways after alleyways. Alleyways so narrow, I sometimes had to turn sideways and scrunch down. Often there is no natural light coming in because they've built up over the alleyways. I was expecting tarps and lean-to's, but the buildings are mostly aging cement. There is no legal electricity, although there were some lights and TV's going. There is no running water and the sewage system (if you could call it that) runs in gutters through the alleyways. You had to be careful where you stepped because the pathway was just blocks covering the sewage gutters and there were sometimes big gaps to jump over. Big, fat, healthy rats are everywhere. Dogs, cats and goats are in abundance. Everyone was friendly and not one single person asked me for money (unheard of in India). The children went to schools run by the local NGO's.This is an organized business setting ..... each area set up by industry. There's the recycling area where EVERYTHING is recycled for something. The plastics are given to the plastic area where they melt it down, color it, and form into pellets
to sell back to western companies. The ceramics area where a delightful Indian showed me how he made clay pots ... he had an electric potter's wheel and it took him only minutes to make a pot which he did over and over. The huge oil tin area where they are cleaned, returned to their original shape, polished up and sold back. There are shopkeepers supplying goods and services to the residents. The leather and tanning area where they processed the animal skins. The sewing area, embroidery area, mattress area, laundry area (this was the one photo ban exception), soap factory, and on and on.What were my thoughts after seeing Dharavi? Emphatically, this was not the stereotypical and cliche filled view of slum dwellers. I saw industry and hardworking people. That being said, I was troubled in seeing their hard work in such simple, impoverished conditions. How does the business community contribute, for better or worse, to these conditions? I was expecting to see misery ... instead I saw a proud people, people who were focused on their day-to-day families and lives, an enterprising people.
posted by CECILIA at 1:39 PM
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