Dharavi - Zindagi Live !!

Dharavi - Call it a slum or call it a house of millions - Its part of our Mumbai.

Dharavi is situated between Mahim (west) & Sion (east). Condensed between the Western & Central line, Dharavi is spread over about 175 to 180 hectares of land. It is a house for about 800,000 people consisting a majority of Dalits. Its also known as the heart of Mumbai.

In Mumbai, the cost of living keeps making new highs day by day. But in such an expensive city, Dharavi provides a cheap, low cost shelter. People dwell in small huts here. Such huts rent about just Rs.500 per month.
 

The Dharavi life is entirely different from the other world. People who earn less and enjoy their life to the full, live here. A person here, earns only as much as required to fill their tummy for the day. They earn less and they live happily. Idhar sab log Dharavi ko aapne daddy ki jagah samjhte hein :P
 

Dharavi drives a big business. They EXPORT goods around the world. Most of the commodities and goods exported are traded illegally. (wine, gold, silver, etc.). The annual turnover crosses about US$700 Millions per year. Dharavi was a Island till late 1740's which was on the shores of River Mithi which connects to Arabian Sea. Fishing was the main occupation then which slowly stopped and disappeared as the civilization took place. 

A Single Room House in Dharavi

 

Migrants from Gujrat developed Potters colony within Dharavi and Potting was then a new business. Maharastrians developed Leather Tanning business, UP migrants started Ready made garments business and slowly commercialization improved in Dharavi. The Tamil migrants started a school in Dharavi which remained the only school for 40 years and it was also the 1st Tamil school of Bombay. Dharavi has many waste recycling units. Presently, it promotes about 5000 recycling businesses and there are about 16000 single room factories.
 

Dharavi faces huge problems in the Monsoons. As it is a lower area, the rains invade this area badly due to lack of rain water harvesting facilities. More over, it creates alot of health problems. Another worst thing prevailing here till 2006 was, there was only 1 toilet per 1400 people. This was because almost all the houses in Dharavi were used for commercial purpose which were illegal. No proper reasoning has been derived for this.
 

Dharavi has been depicted in many Hindi Movies. Salaam Bombay, Deewar, Dharavi, Sarkar, Footpath, Black Friday, No Smoking, Trafic Signal, Aamir, Parinda, Kaminey and many other movies have featured this area and the Typical Dharavi Life. Few English movies namely Slumdog Millionaire, Slum for Sale, Slumming have also featured this place.
 

Dharavi awaits developments and rehabiliation. Will Dharavi get a new face in near future ?
 

Thanks for reading. Plz share. 

Bijoy Momaya !!