Reality

Saturday I toured the largest slum in Asia, Dharavi, which just happens to be in Mumbai. I can't say the tour was fun but it was very interesting. We saw two sides of the slum, the industrial side and the residential side. The primary industry of Dharavi is recycling in all forms. They recycle plastic, oil cans, paint cans, leather, etc. Honestly, the hardest part of touring this side was seeing the toxicity. They burn the labels off the paint and oil cans and boil off whatever was inside. Melting the plastic and recoloring it also created a lot of smoke and odd liquids. I felt bad because I was uncomfortable breathing the fumes for the two hours I was there and the people that live there breath it all the time. Especially the workers who live over their workshops.

Most of the 1 million plus residents live in what is called the residential area. Here the houses are packed in. Each one is about 10 square meters. The alleys that run between are about 18 inches wide. Even I felt very claustrophobic walking through. Only 1% of the residents have toilets so the rest share one public toilet where you have to bring your own water. Right outside of the public toilet is also where the trash is dumped. The trash pile seemed to be a favorite place for the children to play. All of the kids we saw were very happy, telling each of us an enthusiastic "Hi" at every turn. The guide said that when the trash pile gets too tall, they burn it. Again, not great for the environment. It was disturbing to hear that there are government workers paid to clean the toilets and carry away the trash but they just don't do it.

All in all, I was amazed at how organized the slum is. I was also impressed with the very strong sense of community there. Most disturbing for me was the pollution and how dirty it was. However, I really wanted to see this ever present side of Mumbai. I've seen the luxurious side but wanted to see this as well. One misconception is that only the poor live in slums. You may be surprised to know that most of the residents work in the city and even in many of the call centers you may talk to on a regular basis. Most of the houses have satellite dishes and electricity. Almost all of the residents have cell phones.