Dharavi Slum

Last night I joined Lindsay for a community event hosted by the organization where she is working in the Dharavi slum. Even after listening to Lindsay describe what it is like to work in the largest slum in Asia, it is really hard to accurately visualize what a Third World Slum actually looks and smells like. Already, having been in India for over 3 weeks, sights like garbage on the street or weird liquids everywhere have stopped being that noteworthy, but even still, visiting the slum was not even remotely like what I had expected.

Firstly, the slum is among the worst smelling places you've ever imagined. As someone who grew up on the streets of New York, I never thought I would pine for the smells of August concrete in Harlem, but it would be like sniffing tulips compared to walking from the train station to the event last night.

Secondly, and this is pretty surprising, you don't really feel a sense of personal danger. Despite Lindsay's promises to "jump and block" anything that was thrown my way (all while she scanned the crowd like a Secret Service agent), I didn't really feel scared.

The sites of humanity, however, are truly shocking. Though you would not expect, there is actually tons of commerce (mainly fruits and vegetables and street food that makes First Wok seem healthy and clean) as well as some odd junk and materials being sold, the housing structures are predictably quite depressing. Most people live in tin huts that seem susceptible to being destroyed at any moment. Most men cannot afford pants and usually wear one shirt as a top and another around their waist in lieu of any other cover up. There are children that are just incredibly dirty and without hygiene and to say people are not being well-nourished is an understatement.

It is very possible to visit Bombay and to hang out in Bandra (where I work and the new up-and-coming "cool" area of the city) or Colaba (the downtown area with the historical buildings and finance headquarters) and think to yourself "yeah, this is a third world country, but it's not THAT bad." But then, you visit Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia with approximately 2-4 million people (I don't think it's that easy to do a census there...shockingly) and you realize that this is still a place that--growth aside--still has a VERY long way to go to alleviate the extreme poverty.

On a more positive note, I am obviously quite impressed that Lindsay faces this on a daily basis. Though I'm tough as nails, I don't think I will be venturing there again. Yet on a human level, it was also striking that people there not only survive, but seem to still do their best to enjoy life. At the community event we attended last night, people demonstrated considerable pride as they performed and all in the audience seemed to have a wide smile seeing people from their community on stage. Some little kids that were sitting near us really enjoyed practicing their English and wanted to shake our hands like we were celebrities (and were just as giddy as I'd ever be if I encountered Pedro Martinez in my neck of the woods).

So I'm not sure if this is an experience that I'd feel comfortable "recommending" to anyone--I'm not sure my olfactory glands have yet recovered--but it was certainly something that I'm glad I saw.