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natives– hundreds and hundreds. They lay stretched at full length and tightly
wrapped in blankets, heads and all. Their attitude and rigidity counterfeited
death.
Bombay in 1896.
three-year old orphan remains unattended to because her mother “cannot” attend
to her…This is the reality in Mumbai’s slum life. Struggling everyday to
survive, in these slum houses, there are at a minimum 6-8 people living
together in cramped up tiny spaces. Clean
water is not accessible. Lighting…of course –its not there! To make things
worse, there is permanently a very bad smell in the air.
latrines’ and the only option is to use ‘hanging latrines’, which are dangerous
– because sometimes a child can fall into the latrine and get injured. 15-20
families have to share one sanitary latrine. So, how can you remain healthy
after using this water?” This
is the reality – This is THEIR REALITY (SLUM-DWELLERS)
children from Mumbai’s slums are also left exposed to smoke for long hours
during the day and their mothers are unable to attend to them as they are
cooking inside the house. Most of the time, they have to cook inside the room,
as there is a lack of space in the slum. So, their cooking and living area is
the same and they “live in the same smoke”, “eat in the same smoke” and “cook
in the same smoke.
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a result, their eyes swell and they get a headache, but these are inevitable
problems. Moreover, their houses are structured where smoke travels from one
house to the next. So, if someone cooks in one house the smoke goes to the next
house. This exposure to smoke is one of the leading causes of death in children
younger than five years living in slums! Even babies who are barely even two
years old do not even have strong enough lungs to fight this and die. Breathing
in all this smoke is one of the main reasons for developing diseases like
cancer or Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).”
known to be one of the top 15 cities globally and is India’s fiscal capital and
Maharashtra’s capital city. Yet, there remains some obscure shadows over this
alpha world city. Being the economic hub of India, it is also home to the
Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which is the 12th largest stock
exchange in the world!
world and different parts of Asia choose to visit or/and live in Mumbai. People
from the city are mainly Marathi’s, Gujarati’s, Parsis, Christian’s,
Zoroastrian’s, Muslims, Punjabis, Sindhi’s, Jews, Buddhists, Konkani’s, Jains
and Sikhs.
the Gulf, Mumbai is also home to many South East Asian communities and Europeans
such as the Portuguese and French. In addition to that,
it has the most number of millionaire’s and billionaires among all other cities
in India. There is a lot that this city can boast about! So, when our city has so much to offer, why would anyone want to go on a slum tour and “pay money” and for a three hour long tour?
every country is different, but looking at its negativities is CERTAINLY not any
way to explore its culture!
not devoid of slum shanties these and cement houses built in
unplanned manners. The number of slum-dwellers is expected to be over 9 million
with limited access to civic amenities. Many live in close proximity to bus or
even train stations. Of course, slums are not without issues- child labour, women’s safety and diseases.
Dharavi is
known for being Mumbai’s largest slum and the third largest in the world!
FACTS!!! It was even recognised in the movie Slumdog Millionaire.One of the best ways to explore Dharavi slum is to go to Reality Tours – the NGO offering tours through Dharavi. They assert that 80% of their profits from the tour are reinvested into the community- mainly for the schools for the kids that they run.
humanity is this something that you want to see… – the wretched situation
of a human being who does not get enough to live a dignified life? Poverty
cannot be used as a tourist attraction and people need to realise that.
we do case studies… Can’t there be any
better ones? Tourists who visit cities are interested in understanding the
plight of affairs that slum-dwellers of a city go through.
a considerable debate around an uncomfortable moral dilemma. Poverty tourism,
slum tours, reality tours or even adventure tours. Are tourists also supposed
to keep their eyes shut? What’s your Take?
2 Comments
Its so so sad to hear about how these people struggle to survive. I m happy that u shared this reality with us. Dharavi wont be same for me. Lovely article. Thnx karina
Yes we really need to help them in our best possible way. A tour is definitely not the RIGHT way…but it helps to sensitise to create awareness