Dharavi Slumdog Millionaire

Namaste, early in our travels last month, we visited the slum from the movie Slumdog Millionaire located in Bombay. I didn't blog about it back then but thought some would be interested. Our time in Bombay was frought with difficulty crossing the street and negotiating with high , noise and confusion. But back to topic of the slum. We are part of a tour group, of Westerners, visiting the slum. Our guide took us all throughout the area, where over a million people live inside something like 1 sqaure kilometer. Our guide only gave positive info about the slum, such as the nonexistent or very low crime when compared to the rest of the city. Our guide said that the slum was a tight knit community where everyone knew each other and it was not possible to step out of line without everyone knowing. We visited recylcying plants, food factories, and other businesses. The children in the slum were quite smiley. Our guide told us that the slum produces 6 million a year in USD goods and services. One business there takes used tin cans which had olive oil and other food oils in them and prepares them for reuse, sending them back to the food companies to put new oil in them. I remember also clothing makers and also a leather shop where leather was being made usable to use in other products. We saw many different religions represented and in one area of the slum was a small shrine that contains images from Christiainity, Islam, Hindu and probably a few other traditions. Our guide claimed there was no other shrine in Mumbai where all traditions were okay for worship. With the low crime rate , the claims of a high level of community and religious tolerance, it looked and sounded like a place to be admired. Our group called Reality tours guided us through the slum. During our time in India a fire broke out in a Mumbai slum, where a female actor from the Slumdog movie still lives to this day (even though the trust from the movie bought here an apt. in a more prosperous area of Mumbai.) The actress, according to the papers, was bemoaning the loss of all of her memorabilia from the movie. Her hut or flat burned to the ground along with many other slumdweller's homes a few weeks ago. She was still living in the slum I think because that is where her sense of home was. ---David