IMJ 79
Volume 3 Issue 4 January-March, 2012
This is a very positive book. It aptly follows its tagline"What
we saw in Dharavi and why it matters". Dharaviis Asia's largest
slum. Spread over 1.7sq kms in the heartof Mumbai, next to the
upmarket bandra kurla complex,it is often considered an eye-sore to
the city's rich andthe beautiful who would like to see "Mumbai
likeShanghai if not Manhattan". But Dharavi is not just afilthy,
stinky place where filmmakers flock to showcasepoverty; it is a
living, pulsating mega being, a citythriving within a city. The
authors compare it with theenigmatic elephant that six blind men of
Indostan arescrambling to describe in John Godfrey saxe's poem.Just
as the six blind men describe different parts of theelephant and
strongly believe it as the whole picture,thus having six very
different observations of theelephant, Dharavi is perceived
elementally differentlyby different observers. Builders see it as a
gold minein a city, which has one of the highest real estate
pricesin the world, artists, photographers, film makers perceivethe
human/philosophical aspect of it, while researchersconsider it as a
complex project to base their variousstudies while to the
politicians, it is a virtual time bomb,a very sensitive, volatile
bone of contention readily andoptimally used as an agenda before
every election.
The authors in this book however voice the residents'view.
Though it is not the most original perspective,but the
interpretation of the residents' voices has beendone in a very
poignant way. Evidently the authorshave been quite affected
emotionally during their interface with the people here, as in each
interview andexperience narrated, their personal angst is clearly
felt.However, if we cut through the sentimental top layerof the
book, the treatment of the subject as the mega-hub of micro-finance
with a sum total of $650 millionannual turnover is very interesting
as it highlightssuccessful entrepreneurs who had made a
difference
Rashmi Bansal and Deepak Gandhi (2012). Poor Little Rich Slum:
What We Saw in Dharavi and Why It Matters.Published by Westland,
Price: Rs. 250. Pages 189, ISBN: 9789381626184.
Poor Little Rich Slum: What We Saw inDharavi and Why it
MattersRahul Swami
and who are making a difference against the harshconditions of
survival like idli sellers, khari biscuitmakers, leather fashion
accessories exporters, hi-endfashion accessories manufactures and
exporters andtheir rags to riches stories. The book also includes
theaspiring tales of the dreamers who are venturing intotailoring
units with help of urban micro finance loansslum tour agencies, as
well as social empowermentprojects by foreign educated social
workers. They haveresearched the length and breadth of the slum,
carefullychoosing residents and social workers. The
workingconditions are hazardous and living conditionsinconvenient
at best from shared toilets, filth, opensewers etc. However, the
book reveals in each episodehow the many generations of residents
here andsometimes the new migrants are oblivious of these
facts"because he knows no other world". Even on given achoice, the
preference to continue living the same wayis very much shared by
most residents who emphasizeon the community and kinship feeling of
Dharavi.
Interestingly, successful affluent entrepreneurs, someof them
even generations old, choose to continueoperating from their
original base in spite of residingin a more upscale locality,
because of cheap space andabundant cheap labour; thanks to the wave
of migrantsswarming to Dharavi everyday looking for work. Thebook
also discusses the much hyped; governmentboosted "Dharavi
Redevelopment Project" which waslaunched to develop Dharavi by
restructuring it in anorganised plan with modern civic, economic
andresidential benefits. The government's dilemma andchanging
policies regarding the disbursal of free housesand paid houses and
the mixed opinions of the residentsand the social workers about it
is a very interesting readas it tries to search the core of the
problem which liesin the earliest migrants haphazardly and
randomly
Rahul Swami
IMJ 80
Volume 3 Issue 4 January-March, 2012
occupying the then swampy marshlands of Dharaviillegally, thus
giving rise to no legal property papersother than "pagdi
papers".
The first half of the book clearly tries to potray theeconomic
importance of Dharavi, the self sufficiencyand the feisty pride of
the residents. Slowly it goes intodeeper issues like women
empowerment, youthupliftment, education, health, hygiene, civic
awarenessby bringing forth various endeavors of various peoplefrom
different fields and sometimes different countriesto create a more
holistic life and brighter future for thepeople here. Some of the
most interesting projectsmentioned here are Be The Local Tour (run
by 2 localyouths who employ young people on a free lance basisto
give the slum tour highlighting the economic powerof Dharavi thus
trying to create confidence andopportunity for exposure with the
foreign tourists andto practice spoken english while earning
part-timesalaries), Barefoot Acupuncturist founded by WalterFischer
who practices this art of healing and focuses onwomen and the
hardship faced by them, 'DharaviRocks' project an ACORN and
blueFrog initiative whichgives the young rag-pickers of Dharavi to
jam with thevisiting musicians of blueFrog thus giving them
anopportunity to live life beyond misery, find emotionalvents in
music rather than drowning in drugs, alcoholspost working hours and
eventually giving the talentedones an exposure in the music scene
by launching albumscreated by them and Gurudutt Gymnassium,
whereformer gold medalist and trainer of couple of statechampions,
Praveen Sakpal trains the young men incompetitive body building
thus creating a vice freefocused life style and giving them
opportunity to getgovernment jobs in "sports" quota.
The contributions and Dharavi upliftment endeavors ofmany Mumbai
luminaries like Dr Duru Shah, Presidentof FOGSI, Dr Armida
Fernandez, Dean and Head ofNeonatology at Lokmanya Tilak Municipal
Hospital,Sion, Social worker Jalinder Adsule of Nirmala
Niketan,social activist Padma Shri Jockin Arputham have
beenmentioned along with the silent struggle of architect
Aneerudha Paul,Waterwallah team,scientist RamjiRaghavan who had
left their high paying corporatecareers and serious money for the
hope of bringingsome improvement in the lives of the people here.
Themost vital element of the book seems to be the economicself
sufficiency, the feisty spirit and the dreams of thepeople here of
a better tomorrow.
Through its various anecdotes and experiences, theauthors
basically try to drive home three messages.One, the pride, spirit
and the economic strength of theslum; second the view points,
aspirations and hopes ofthe Dharavi residents and why they choose
to staywhere they stay and third, the active endeavors ofvarious
people, organizations and the residents inmaking the lives of the
people here healthier, empoweredand aware.
Inspite of a very benevolent task undertaken by theauthors, who
had based the book on research, sometimesit tends to become the
mouth piece of their personalview point rather than actual facts
for example raisingquestions of "how long Dharavi youth will be
deniedopportunities due to accident of their address".Although,
research based, a lot of information happensto be based on hearsay
and the reader looking forwardto treat the subject from an
informative, learning anglefeels the lack facts and figures.
Inclusions of charts,maps, facts and figures would have made the
read moreinformative, solid and structured with a stronger
voice.The photographs by Dee Gandhi are very vivid andshow us
Dharavi through eyes of an artist . The bookhowever is a very
heartfelt piece of work, giving us avery interesting and thoughtful
insight into the livesof the people here and help us see Dharavi
not just asan eye-sore but more as a respectable self sufficient
citywithin a city.
Rahul Swami is a Senior Research Scholar with Universityof
Rajasthan, Jaipur. Prior to this, he had served majorcorporate
houses like Zee Telefilms and ICICI Bank Ltd.He has over 2 years of
teaching experience along with6 years experience in international
business and ratenegotiation. He has also contributed to journals
andactively participated at various national conferences.
Rahul Swami
