Mumbai Mania

Dharavi, known to most Mumbaikars or people living in Mumbai but just by face value as the largest slum in the city. Us like many who live here have only passed by Dharavi on our way to Sion, while exiting the city, or passing by it while your in a train.

We have never cared to know what happens in those slums, the only other reason Dharavi exists in our minds is due to the leather trade that takes place around the area.

Thanks to the shooting of Slumdog Millionaire that we have not yet watched the world opened its eyes to Dharavi and some recent surfing have brought out a massive insight into what happens in Dharavi that we would like to share with you.

Dharavi is just not a slum, its the recycling super-hub of Mumbai, believed to be host to at least 15,000 single room factories dealing with at least 80 percent of Mumbai's plastic recycling as well as other recyclables.

The approximate size of the entire slum is 530 Acres, making it the largest in Asia apart from that its also a massive economic zone that grossed over $600 million annually.

Apart from that, the government had planned a massive redevelopment program, but it has not been successful due to many reasons, namely the economic meltdown, and basically the government was trying to grab some of the land by treating the area as a residential redevelopment project leading to wide spread protests. Watch this video below to get a grasp of the situation,

Lets take a slight stroll into Dharavi's history from wiki, Dharavi was predominantly a mangrove swamp prior to the late 19th century that was inhabited by Koli's.

But as the swamps got filled in, how they still do nowadays in many parts of Mumbai, the fishing industry disappeared. A dam at Sion, that I never knew existed until know, adjacent to Dharavi, helped in speeding up the process of joining the separate islands into one long tapered mass.

And as Bombay was being formed, the creek dried up, Dharavi's fishing town was deprived of its traditional sustenance, but the newly drained marshes provided space for new communities to move in.

Migrants from Gujarat established a potters' colony, and Muslim tanners from Tamil Nadu migrated to Dharavi and set up the leather tanning industry. Other artisans, like the embroidery workers from Uttar Pradesh, started the ready-made garments trade.

And today we still have a very diverse range of people from all around the country who still make their living there.