A visit to Dharavi Slum, the biggest in Asia, home to 1 million people -by Suzanne/Ryan

One of the most eye-opening experiences in Mumbai, India so far is our visit to the Dharavi slum. ONE MILLION PEOPLE live in an area the size of ONE-SQUARE MILE.

This is the biggest slum in Asia, the one the movie "Slum Dog Millionaire" was based upon.

VIDEO: DHARAVI-- by Ryan (trt:39)

There are 2000 different slums in Mumbai. More than half of Mumbai’s population live in a slum. What makes the Dharavi slum different from any other, it’s remarkable productivity.

It produces $665 million of goods a year….given the 10,000 small businesses or workshops there producing everything from food, garments, leather goods, pottery,  and also recycling everything imaginable.

Among the very dark narrow alleyways, in the tiny rooms, people are manufacturing brand new suitcases. They are sewing suits and dresses as well as making leather purses and belts. 

The truth is, this is where some of the world’s name brand products are made before a label is slapped onto it. (read: Gucci, samonsonite, etc.)

But, what really catches my eye is the mind-boggling amount of people-power spent RECYCLING….. all the stuff we toss into a blue recycling bin or in the trash or haul off to the dump---these are the things they sort through by hand. A lot of the trash in the Dharavi slum comes by way of China and such, as well as from all over India.

VIDEO: DHARAVI RECYCLING-- by Suzanne (trt:11)

Old milk and juice containers piled up into containers the size of a small car. Dozens of car bumpers sitting in front of someone’s workshop. We walked by a kid sitting out in the open sorting through syringes, old toothbrushes. We peeked inside a tiny workshop to find a handful of people ripping apart the plastic parts that come from the inside of a refrigerator. Old whiskey bottle caps pounded into little flakes to be repurposed into decorative stuff.

Ryan and I were fortunate to visit another slum before in Delhi (thanks to the friendship of school teachers and administrators Todd and Lori Anderson of Grass Valley who were living in India at the time). We visited the so-called “jugi” just before the movie SlumDog Millionaire was released. That was eye-opening. But, I don’t think that truly prepared me for what I expected to see in Dharavi. Honestly, I’m still trying to process it.

NPR did this insightful story in 2012 after interviewing our guide Ganesh….

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/world/indian-slum-becomes-hot-property