Dharavi
Encyclopedia
Dharavi is a slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...

 and administrative ward, over parts of Sion
Sion, India
Sion is a suburb of Mumbai. The Marathi name for Sion is शीव , which means boundary or limit. In the 17th century the village formed the boundary between Mumbai and Salsette Island.- History :...

, Bandra, Kurla
Kurla
Kurla is a suburb of Mumbai. It is also the name of one the busiest railway stations on the Mumbai suburban railway on the central and harbour railway lines of Mumbai...

 and Kalina
Kalina
Kalina may refer to:feminine given name:* Kalinapeople* Noah Kalina, American photographer* Robert Kalina, Austrian banknote designer* Václav Kalina, Czech footballerplaces* Kalina, a geographical location in Mumbai...

 suburbs of Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. It is sandwiched between Mahim
Mahim
Mahim is a neighbourhood in Mumbai. It is also the name of a railway station in Mahim area, on the Mumbai suburban railway on the Western Railway railway line. In ancient times, the area was known as Maijim, Mejambu, Mahikawati....

 in the west and Sion in the east, and spread over an area of 175 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

s, or 0.67 square miles (1.7 km²). In 1986, the population was estimated at 530,225, but modern Dharavi has a population of between 600,000 and over 1 million people. Dharavi is one of the largest slums in the world. It used to be the largest slum in Mumbai at one time, but as of 2011, there are four slums in Mumbai larger than Dharavi.

In most large cities, the floor space index
Floor Area Ratio
The floor area ratio or floor space index is the ratio of the total floor area of buildings on a certain location to the size of the land of that location, or the limit imposed on such a ratio....

 (FSI) varies from 5 to 15 in the Central Business District (CBD) to about 0.5, or below, in the suburbs. In Mumbai the permitted FSI is uniform and in 1991 was fixed at 1.33. The regulations that restrict the FSI greatly reduce the floor space available for residence and business. In expensive Mumbai, Dharavi provides a cheap alternative where rents were as low as 4 per month in 2006. Dharavi exports goods around the world. The total (and largely informal) turnover is estimated to be between 500 million and over 650 million per year.

Dharavi is Situated between Mumbai's two main suburban railway lines, the Western and Central Railways. To its west are Mahim
Mahim
Mahim is a neighbourhood in Mumbai. It is also the name of a railway station in Mahim area, on the Mumbai suburban railway on the Western Railway railway line. In ancient times, the area was known as Maijim, Mejambu, Mahikawati....

 and Bandra, and to the north lies the Mithi River
Mithi River
The Mithi River is a river in Salsette Island, the island of the city of Mumbai. It is a confluence of tail water discharges of Powai and Vihar lakes. The river is seasonal and rises during the monsoons. The overflowing lakes also contribute to the river flow which is stopped by a dam in other times...

, which empties into the Arabian Sea
Arabian Sea
The Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui in northeastern Somalia and Kanyakumari in India...

 through the Mahim Creek
Mahim Creek
Mahim Creek is a creek in Mumbai, India. The Mithi River drains into the creek which drains into the Mahim Bay. The creek forms the boundary between the city and suburbs...

. To its south and east are Sion and Matunga. Both its location and poor drainage systems make Dharavi particularly vulnerable to floods during the wet season
Wet season
The the wet season, or rainy season, is the time of year, covering one or more months, when most of the average annual rainfall in a region occurs. The term green season is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the...

.

Dharavi covers an area of 535 acres (216.5 ha).

History

In the 18th century, Dharavi was an island. In February 1739, Chimnaji Appa
Chimnaji Appa
Chimnaji Appa was the son of Balaji Vishwanath Bhat and the younger brother of Bajirao Peshwa. He was an able military commander who liberated the western coast of India from Portuguese rule...

 attacked Bassein. Before that, he took possession of Dharavi.

The area of present-day Dharavi was predominantly mangrove
Mangrove
Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...

 swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...

 before the late 19th century, inhabited by Koli
KOLI
KOLI is a radio station serving Wichita Falls, Texas and Vicinity with a country music format. It operates on FM frequency 94.9 MHz and is under ownership of Cumulus Media. It is the radio flagship station for the Wichita Falls Wildcats hockey team....

 fishermen. However, the fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

 industry disappeared when the swamp areas filled in. A dam at Sion
Sion, India
Sion is a suburb of Mumbai. The Marathi name for Sion is शीव , which means boundary or limit. In the 17th century the village formed the boundary between Mumbai and Salsette Island.- History :...

, adjacent to Dharavi, hastened the process of joining separate islands into one long, tapered mass. Thus began the transformation of the island city of Bombay. In the process, 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
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

' colony, and Maharashtrian
Marathi people
The Marathi people or Maharashtrians are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, that inhabit the Maharashtra region and state of western India. Their language Marathi is part of the southern group of Indo-Aryan languages...

 tanners belonging to the Charmarkar caste migrated to Dharavi and set up the leather tanning industry. Other artisans, like the embroidery
Embroidery
Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....

 workers from Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

, started the ready-made garments trade.

Tamil migrants, including Tamil Muslim
Tamil Muslim
Tamil Muslim refers to those Muslims who have Tamil as their mother tongue. There are around 500,000 in Malaysia which is 2.6% of the total population of Malaysia and 20,000 in Singapore.Tamil Muslims are largely urban traders rather than farmers...

s, Adidravidars and Nadars started coming into the area in the late 19th century, many of whom worked in nearby tanneries; a large influx came in the 1920s. Bombay's first Tamil
Tamil people
Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...

 school and Dharavi's first school was constructed in 1924. It remained the only school of Dharavi for the next four decades. In 1930s, a single road passed through Dharavi towards the Mahim railway station.

Dharavi's Co-operative Housing Society was formed in the 1960s to uplift the lives of thousands of slum dwellers by the initiative of Shri. M.V. Duraiswamy, a well-known social worker and congress leader of that region. The Dharavi co-operative housing society promoted 338 flats and 97 shops and was named "Dr. Baliga Nagar."

Residents

A majority of the residents of Dharavi belong to the paraiyar
Paraiyar
Paraiyar, Parayar, and Sambavar, anglicised by Europeans as Pariah are a social group found in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and in Sri Lanka . In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, though they have been enumerated under three different caste names, they have generally been referred to as...

 caste especially the Adidravidar of the Tamil people, they had also built a Ganesh Temple and "The bombay South Indian Adi-Dravida Mahajana Sangh" which own the piece of land and the areas adjoining the temple. Other castes and tribes are also present. Minorities include Christians, Muslims and Buddhists.

Economy

In addition to the traditional pottery
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

 and textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...

 industries in Dharavi, there is an increasingly large recycling
Recycling
Recycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...

 industry, processing recyclable waste from other parts of Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...

. The district has an estimated 5000 businesses and 15,000 single-room factories
Factory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...

.

Redevelopment plans

There have been many plans since 1997 to redevelop Dharavi like the former slums of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 such as Tai Hang
Tai Hang
Tai Hang is an area southeast of Causeway Bay located in the mid-north of Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. The area is mainly residential.-Geography:...

. In 2004, the cost of redevelopment was estimated to be . Companies from around the world have bid to redevelop Dharavi, including Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...

, Dubai’s Limitless and Singapore’s Capitaland Ltd. In 2010, it is estimated to cost to redevelop.

The latest urban redevelopment
Redevelopment
Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses.-Description:Variations on redevelopment include:* Urban infill on vacant parcels that have no existing activity but were previously developed, especially on Brownfield land, such as the redevelopment of an industrial site...

 plan proposed for the Dharavi area is managed by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

-trained architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 Mukesh Mehta. The plan involves the construction of 30000000 square feet (2,787,091.2 m²) of housing, school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...

s, park
Park
A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...

s and road
Road
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...

s to serve the 57,000 families residing in the area, along with 40000000 square feet (3,716,121.6 m²) of residential and commercial space for sale. There has been significant local opposition to the plans, largely because existing residents are due to receive only 225 square feet (20.9 m²) of land each. Furthermore, only those families who lived in the area before 2000 are slated for resettlement. Concerns have also been raised by residents who fear that some of their small businesses in the "informal" sector may not be relocated under the redevelopment plan. The government has said that it will only legalize and relocate industries that are not "polluting."

Sanitation issues

Dharavi has severe problems with public health
Public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...

, due to the scarcity of toilet
Toilet
A toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...

 facilities, due in turn to the fact that most housing and 90% of the commercial units in Dharavi are illegal. As of November 2006 there was only one toilet per 1,440 residents in Dharavi. Mahim Creek, a local river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

, is widely used by local residents for urination
Urination
Urination, also known as micturition, voiding, peeing, weeing, pissing, and more rarely, emiction, is the ejection of urine from the urinary bladder through the urethra to the outside of the body. In healthy humans the process of urination is under voluntary control...

 and defecation
Defecation
Defecation is the final act of digestion by which organisms eliminate solid, semisolid or liquid waste material from the digestive tract via the anus. Waves of muscular contraction known as peristalsis in the walls of the colon move fecal matter through the digestive tract towards the rectum...

, leading to the spread of contagious diseases. The area also suffers from problems with inadequate drinking water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...

 supply.

Guided tours through Dharavi

A few travel operators offer guided tours through Dharavi, showing the industrial and the residential part of Dharavi and explaining about problems and challenges India is facing. These tours give a deeper insight into a slum in general and Dharavi in particular.

Media depiction

  • Dharavi has been depicted in a number of Hindi
    Hindi
    Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

     films produced by the Mumbai film industry
    Bollywood
    Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...

    . These include Salim-Javed
    Salim-Javed
    Salim-Javed were a scriptwriter duo who wrote a number of commercially and critically successful Hindi films in the 1970s and early 1980s. The duo, composed of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, made the writer's role popular with their names appearing in the posters of the films, and in some films they...

     films such as Deewaar
    Deewaar
    -Films:*Deewaar , directed by Yash Chopra and starring Amitabh Bachchan and Shashi Kapoor*Deewaar , directed by Milan Luthria and starring Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, and Amrita Rao-Television:...

    (1975), Mira Nair
    Mira Nair
    Mira Nair is an Indian film director and producer based in New York. Her production company is Mirabai Films.She was educated at Delhi University and Harvard University. Her debut feature film, Salaam Bombay! , won the Golden Camera award at the Cannes Film Festival and also earned the nomination...

    's Salaam Bombay!
    Salaam Bombay!
    Salaam Bombay! is a 1988 Hindi film directed by Mira Nair, and screenwritten by her longtime creative collaborator, Sooni Taraporevala. The film chronicles the day-to-day life of children living on the streets of Bombay...

    (1988) where several child actors were from the Dharavi slum, Vidhu Vinod Chopra
    Vidhu Vinod Chopra
    Vidhu Vinod Chopra is an Indian director and producer. Chopra is the head of his own company, Vinod Chopra Productions, and is particularly known for producing the Munna Bhai films and 3 Idiots.-Early life:Born in a Punjabi family of Kashmir,...

    's Parinda
    Parinda
    Parinda is an award-winning 1989 Indian film directed and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Parinda is considered by many to be the turning point in reality in Hindi cinema, as the theme of the film discusses the real life of Indian underworld gangsters and the general life of residents in the city...

    (1989), Sudhir Mishra
    Sudhir Mishra
    Sudhir Mishra is an Indian film director and screenwriter most renowned for directing critically acclaimed films like Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Dharavi and Chameli.-Early life and education:...

    's Dharavi
    Dharavi (film)
    Dharavi is critically acclaimed 1991 Hindi film, directed and written by Sudhir Mishra.The film was a joint NFDC-Doordarshan production and went on to winning many awards in the following year, including the 1992 National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi...

    (1991), Ram Gopal Varma
    Ram Gopal Varma
    Ram Gopal Varma is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer...

    's "Indian Gangster Trilogy" (1998–2005) and Sarkar
    Sarkar (film)
    Sarkar is a 2005 Indian dramatic thriller film set in the world of politics and crime, directed by Ram Gopal Varma...

    series (2005–2008), Vikram Bhatt
    Vikram Bhatt
    Vikram Bhatt is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter. He has more than 21 films to his credit. He is also the creative head of a conglomerate called ASA Productions.-Early life:...

    's Footpath (2003), Anurag Kashyap
    Anurag Kashyap (director)
    Anurag Singh Kashyap is an Indian film director and screenwriter. As a director, he is known for Black Friday , a controversial and award-winning Hindi film about the 1993 Bombay bombings, followed by No Smoking , Dev D and Gulaal...

    's Black Friday (2004) and No Smoking
    No Smoking (2007 film)
    No Smoking's soundtrack was released in September 2007. Lyrics by Gulzar.- External links :* * * * * *...

    (2007), Madhur Bhandarkar
    Madhur Bhandarkar
    Madhur Bhandarkar is a National Award-winning Indian film director, script writer, and producer. He is best known for his films such as Chandni Bar , Page 3 , Traffic Signal , and Fashion...

    's Traffic Signal
    Traffic Signal (film)
    Traffic Signal is a Bollywood film directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, starring Kunal Khemu, Neetu Chandra, Ranvir Shorey and Konkona Sen Sharma in the lead. Produced by Baldev and Kavita Pushkarna, and written by Sachin Yardi, the film released on February 2, 2007...

    (2007), Rajeev Khandelwal
    Rajeev Khandelwal
    Rajeev Khandelwal is a popular Indian film actor notable for his versatility and choice of scripts. He has played the harrowed Dr. Aamir Ali in his critically acclaimed 2008 debut film Aamir and powerfully depicted the torn ACP Arvind Mathur who battles his inner demons in Shaitan...

    's Aamir (2008), and other films based on the Mumbai underworld
    Indian mafia
    The term Indian mafia refers to certain criminal organizations found in some of India's major cities. The "Indian Mafia" also refer to powerful families that have criminal aspects to it.- Mumbai underworld :...

    .
  • Dharavi has been depicted in films from other Indian film industries
    Cinema of India
    The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...

    , particularly the Tamil film industry. Several films by Mani Ratnam
    Mani Ratnam
    Mani Ratnam is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter and producer. He made his directorial debut with the Kannada film Pallavi Anu Pallavi starring Anil Kapoor in 1983...

     based on the experiences of Tamil
    Tamil people
    Tamil people , also called Tamils or Tamilians, are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, India and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. Historic and post 15th century emigrant communities are also found across the world, notably Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Australia, Canada,...

     immigrants to Mumbai have depicted the Dharavi slum, including Nayagan
    Nayagan
    Nayagan is a Indian film, written, directed, and co-produced by Mani Ratnam which released on 21 October 1987 coinciding with Diwali. Upon release, the film got rave reviews across India. Kamal Hassan's performance as Velu Naiker earned him a National Film Award for Best Actor. The film also...

    (1987) and Bombay
    Bombay (film)
    Bombay is a critically acclaimed and national award-winning 1995 Tamil film directed by Mani Ratnam, starring Arvind Swamy and Manisha Koirala, with music composed by A. R. Rahman...

    (1995).
  • Dharavi features prominently in Danny Boyle
    Danny Boyle
    Daniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...

    's 2008 film
    2008 in film
    This is a list of all major films made in 2008.-Highest-grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2008...

     Slumdog Millionaire
    Slumdog Millionaire
    Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup...

    , where several of the child actors in the film are from the Dharavi slum. And the super hit movie Mankatha
    Mankatha
    Mankatha is a 2011 Tamil action thriller film written and directed by Venkat Prabhu. It features Ajith Kumar in the lead role, starring in his 50th film, along with an ensemble cast including Arjun, Trisha Krishnan, Vaibhav Reddy, Lakshmi Rai, Andrea Jeremiah, Premji Amaren and Anjali...

    was shot here starring Ajith kumar
    Ajith Kumar
    Ajith Kumar is an Indian film actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He began his career as a supporting actor in a Telugu film before gaining critical recognition in the Tamil thriller Aasai . A succession of high-grossing films followed where Ajith was usually depicted as a romantic hero, with...

    .
  • In Kaminey
    Kaminey
    Kaminey is a 2009 Bollywood caper thriller film directed by Vishal Bhardwaj featuring Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra in the lead roles, and Amol Gupte in his debut film appearance...

    , the 2009 Hindi movie, starring Shahid Kapoor
    Shahid Kapoor
    Shahid Kapoor is an Indian actor who appears in Bollywood films. He is also a trained dancer.Starting off his career by working in music videos and advertisements, Kapoor made his Bollywood debut as a background dancer in Subhash Ghai's Taal . Four years later, he made his acting debut in Ishq...

    .
  • In the 2009 Swiss/German documentary Dharavi, Slum for Sale of director Lutz Konermann.
  • In a programme aired in England in January 2010, Kevin McCloud
    Kevin McCloud
    Kevin McCloud is a British designer, writer and television presenter best known for his work on the Channel 4 series Grand Designs. He lives in a 15th-century farmhouse in Frome, Somerset, with his wife Suzanna "Zani" who runs an online interior decoration business, and their two children, Milo ...

     and Channel 4 aired a two-part series titled Slumming It which centered around Dharavi and its inhabitants.
  • The poem Blessing (poem)
    Blessing (poem)
    Blessing is a poem by Imtiaz Dharker. It is set in a settlement in Dharavi in India, and it describes the pandemonium that would occur if a huge water folly were to burst and shower the parched locals with water. The water is described as "the voice of a kindly god", "silver" and a "blessing"...

    by Imtiaz Dharker
    Imtiaz Dharker
    Imtiaz Dharker is a Scottish Muslim, poet, artist and documentary film-maker.- Family and background:She was born in Lahore to Pakistani parents. She was brought up in Glasgow where her family moved when she was less than a year old...

    is about Dhavari not having enough water.

Further reading


External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK