In October this year, I got the chance to visit Mumbai, India’s financial capital, home to one of the biggest slums in Asia. I decided to take a tour of Dharavi and had the luck to meet Jitendra, who guided me, together with a group, through Dharavi.
Jitendra tells me Dharavi is one of the oldest slums of Mumbai. The oldest house dates back to 1857. Initially, people started settling here as it used to be an open area outside of the city. However, over the years Mumbai grew around Dharavi and now it happens to be in the center of the city, thus attracting a lot of working-class people to live there considering the cheap rents.
Dharavi ranks 1st being the largest slum in Asia, not because of its area but because of its population, which is estimated to be 1 million people, with a total area of roughly 175 hectares or 432 acres. Half the size of New York's Central Park, making it 20 times more dense than the city of Mumbai itself.
Jitendra tells me that plastic recycling is the major business there, all the plastic waste from Mumbai's streets is brought to Dharavi, and not only from the city but many factories around the world have contracts with recycling centers inside Dharavi, not only for plastic but for industrial as well. Apart from plastic recycling, there are many different businesses as well such as garment making, food, l leather, pottery, and many more. Dharavi is home to over 10,000 small factories and generates around 655 million USD per year. People in Dharavi have a unique sense of enterprise.
Dharavi is also home to different religions and cultures, we call Dharavi slums the mini-India, as it is a very diverse community and home to all faiths living side by side.
On his tour, Jeetu, as he prefers to be called, tries to showcase how many hardworking people make little money but make it respectfully, without blaming the system in the hope of a better tomorrow. People from Dharavi are often neglected by the government and also discriminated against within the city of Mumbai. Many people living in Mumbai have never even stepped their feet inside Dharavi, but they have an opinion about it being a dangerous, dirty, smelly neighborhood of Mumbai.
Jeetu’s focus is to get more and more locals to come and join this tour to dispel the negative image of Dharavi. Unfortunately, not many locals would want to pay to visit Dharavi and he ends up doing tours mostly for foreign tourists.
Jitendra was born and raised in Dharavi, he’s a kind soul, who has at heart his people and tries to make justice for them. If you happen to visit Mumbai or want to help his cause, feel free to reach out to him.
The link to Jitendra’s tour: Airbnb | TripAdvisor
