Thank you Dharavi, the home of communality.
Thank you India, the home of culture.
Thank you Sir JJ school for your support.
Thank you Tu delft for the base.
Thank you Urban Body for moving me out of the box.
My name is Bassama. I’m over 100 years old and live with my daughter’s family in the house that I built in the 1930s. I was the first to arrive to these marshlands with my 2 young sons, and we were knee-deep in mud and water. I collected industry waste, scraps and construction waste (especially mud and sand) in bags on my head, and filled in enough area to build my home on. Carrying the sand and mud on my head made me lose my hair. Other people were doing the same as more people migrated from all over India, with families and neighbourhoods beginning to form. We have no problem in the Monsoon season. A decision was made by chairmen to industrialise the area 35 years ago. 7 people live in this house. We collect plastic wires in a wheelbarrow or bag to carry on our heads from the surrounding areas in Dharavi. Never needing to go beyond 5km, our bags are full after 2-4 hours. Our lives are flexible. We don’t make a profit, maybe when I earn 50R (0.90 euro), I sometimes save 5R. We borrow material from each other to sell in hard times, and look after each other in times of need. Economic and psychological support is very important here. We sell the raw material in bulk to someone who has placed an order. We sleep and eat downstairs (in a 3x3 meter room). We live in the Dabba Walla so that we can store the material upstairs so we know it’s safe. We pay 100R rent / month to the Bombay Municipal Council for our house. Commercial shops have to pay at least 400R. We get water and pay bills to the BMC. The electricity bills are 4R / kW in this residential area. Sometimes we get a big bill from industries in the 13th Compound using our electricity, sometimes amounting to 1500R. We have to pay it. My 2 grandsons and granddaughter will return from Gujarat after the baby is born. My grandson will also marry in Gujarat or in a banquet hall in Dharavi. After that he will return here with his wife. We return home once a year to worship our native Hindu god, Kali Nandu. We go separately, so the business stays alive. There are mixed religions here, but most people come from Gujarat, and we have a very strong sense of community. We go to religious festivals in the nearby 40 year old Hindu temple by Mahim station. There is also the 40 yr old Bori cemetery in 13th Compound, the 30 yr old Moringa Mosque, and some Muslim prayer rooms.
When the ’92 Riots started, all that we experienced was a curfew. We heard stories from the other end of the 60 ft Rd of men being burned alive, and beaten to death. We stayed awake at night and discussed how to not let the riots affect our businesses. Our business helped maintain our community. We shared with and helped each other. I don’t know of any new government plans for the area! I know nothing about it. It’s business as usual for us. What I.D. Card? Don’t know what I would do without my business. What is going to happen??? We will unite and fight anyone who tries to compromise our business or our lives. Whatever happens, we won’t separate from the community.
As early as 7:30 am on this day, we were in the bus. Sitting in front of the bus with other 25 students at the back, we toured the whole of Mumbai. Starting from dharavi to bandra to the northern part, to the eastern and finally to the southern coast at colaba, we toured mumbai. It was a nice experience eventhough almost all the class slept off at some point in time. Exploring Mumbai gave us the opportunity to see what life is outside dharavi. We saw the fish village, artist village, the new bridge which is to link Bandra to the other part of the sea. In the night, we all went to see bollywood movie at BOX cinema and the interesting thing is that it was in hindu and not subtitled.
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.
Right to the city means the right to change the city, to make the city after our heart desire. We have human rights, individual rights, and collective rights. The right of the city is the collective right. City is the most complete way of reshaping the world after our heart desire. In this present world of complexity, the question is what kind of social order do we want?, what kind of people do we want to be?, and what kind of urban personality now exists? Capitalism is framing our world, our urbanisation. an example is the case of dharavi, a land that worths billions of dollars. In the face of capitalism, the challenge for the government now is how do we get people of the land. However, if capitalism is framing our urbanisation, then i think collective rights to the city will be lost.