Getting to the hotel by 6:00a.m in the morning, with no rest, the task was to map the boundary of dharavi (a 6 hours walk) with our sensations (smell, sound, sight, and touch/vibe). Divided into groups of 3 (myself, Stephan PH, and Kevin) with two sweet India ladies from Sir JJ school of architecture (daksha, and Sonam), I focused on smell, Kevin on sight, Stephan on touch/vibe, daksha on sound and sonam on general. The smell which was the sense I was conscious of straight from the airport is something very interesting. Simplifying the technique of getting the information on smell, I noted descriptively what I smell and also the intensity of the smell and whether it is positive or negative, using a grade of -5 to 0 to +5. Walking along the boundary of dharavi slum, getting lost for 2 hours, finding ourselves, reorienting ourselves with the scrappy map, we managed to find our route.I smelt foul chicken odour, burning rubber, mangrooves, human faeces and urine. I smelt dirty gutter, CO2 waste from cars, engine oil, rotten foods, fruits remain, sugar canes. One interesting thing is the intensity of these smells, which is really heavy and ranges from -3 to -5 and at few times +3. the smell of smoke from the cars is so much. At a point my nose got blocked and I had to blow my nose so as to perceive the smell. In short, the smell along the boundary of dharavi is heavy and thick and there are much interference of odours from automobiles and the residences.
Oouuchh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Maybe it’s worth saying that under a tree, a bird sheet on my head, it was really disgusting!!! (I will always remember this). Now back at the hotel around 6pm, time to eat, watch a movie on dharavi and go to bed.
Along the boundary of dharavi are, railways routes and two distinct visual settlement. the sight of dharavi on one hand, and the sight of bandra on the other hand.
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