In the narrow lanes of Dharavi, Mumbai

All I knew about “Dharavi” is that it was one of the most populated and polluted areas of Mumbai. My closest connection to Dharavi was through the movie Slumdog Billionaire but honestly, even then I didn’t pay much attention to it. Today, here I was all set to visit Dharavi.

I chose to walk down from Mahim to Dharavi, just to get a feel of the vicinity I was going to explore.

There was too much traffic and hardly a few people walking on the roads (probably because they were too muddy). While I kept walking ahead with loads of curious questions about the place in my mind, two buildings caught my attention.

One had a beautiful painting of a woman while the other had MS Dhoni painted on it.

I am not sure who painted them or why but they are beautiful.

The lanes of Dharavi

After around 15 mins I reached my destination with muddy feet and a grin on my face. The kind host Mr. Galwani from Galwani Pottery and Ceramics cheerfully welcomed me with a smile and enquired if I had enjoyed my little explorations.

Kumbharwada:

After a brief round of introductions with the IES Ceramic Pottery Team who conducted the walk, we headed off to the Kumbharwada. “Kumbhar” is in potter while “Wada” means an area. So there is this area in Dharavi where all potters live. These potters are mainly from the Kutch chi/Gujarati community or the Muslim community for generations and each one has its distinct style.

The first thing that you would notice about Kumbharwada is the lack of space. Narrow lanes with bare space for two people to walk and houses super close to each other. Not just that if you take a peep into a house you would be surprised by the layout and wonder how these people manage to live there.

Some pictures of the amazing place:

                                                                                                 Kumbharwada, Dharavi

Plus these potters have their furnaces bang opposite to their houses. The amount of toxic smoke produced is huge. No wonder the rate of lung disorders and other respiratory issues is so high in the region.

We went almost from house to house seeing different pottery techniques, different pottery designs, and different moulding techniques.

We saw things ranging from diyas to water pots to pots of different sizes and shapes. Even the painting and decoration of these items are done in the same region.

The strange part is pottery isn’t easy. It is a long and tedious process yet these people sell this for nominal amounts but if you buy the same things from your region it would cost you anywhere from 3-4 times and at times 7-8 times more than the actual cost.

My views about the place:

Even after all these drawbacks, the most important thing that you would notice, see and feel is the kind-hearted, and giving nature of the people living in this region. As we went from house to house, almost everyone welcomed us. They shared everything that they could about their art-craft without any fear or doubt something that I haven’t seen in a long time.

In fact, at one point when the painting of diyas was done, I wanted to buy those because they looked so beautiful. The vendor mentioned they weren’t selling and asked me how much I wanted. When I mentioned 1, they gave me one as a gift. Even after insisting on taking the payment, they refused. This set of diyas will always remain a reminder of these beautiful, kind-hearted people.