We know Mumbai is filled with slums and it’s a common sight to find one at every nook and corner of the city. Tourists are astounded with the fact that the financial capital of the city actually has the biggest slum in Asia – Dharavi.

Over one million people live in Dharavi spread over 1.75 square kilometers of swampy, muddy land and my research revealed that the oldest hut was built here a century ago.

Really cramped up, it is filled with several migrants coming to Mumbai to ‘make it big’, and due to lack of space in a congested city like Mumbai and the steep prices of accommodation, have settled here.

It seems there is only one toilet for every 1440 slum dwellers. But that’s not it to Dharavi, it’s also a hub to a growing number of small scale industries. Besides, it has also become one of the major tourist attractions in Mumbai.

Experiencing the Slums

Reality Tours & Travels conducts ‘Slum tours in Mumbai’ where it takes tourists willing to explore the place around Dharavi. Set up by Christopher Way, a charitable Englishman and his Indian business partner - Krishna Poojari. They saw an opportunity here and started of what seems to be a noble cause.

They take tourists around the area highlighting not the appalling, deprived conditions, but the fact that it houses a million dollar production industry – leather, clay, pots etc. According to the owners, nearly 80 per cent of the profit from each tour is given to various NGOs, which runs schools for underprivileged children in slums like Dharavi.

The idea to start such a unique tour was inspired by the famous favela tours of Rio. It started a year back and this venture hasn’t been publicized a great deal. Recently the owners of Reality received a great deal of flak from certain sections of the media, who criticized saying that this was a move to ridicule and make fun of the slum dwellers and it was a crime against humanity. These claims have been severely refuted by them, who continue to emphasis on the fact that the tour is to spread awareness about the growth of industries in a slum like Dharavi. In fact the owners haven’t even publicized a great deal about the cause and also publish their earnings on the site. For the purpose of avoiding any negative attention, they have also banned tourist from carrying cameras on these excursions.

After reading about this it has certainly cleared the misconception I had that this place was unsafe, and I definitely intend to make a trip to Dharavi and see the contrasting image of development in Dharavi.

Is poverty tourism—"poorism," they call it—exploration or exploitation?

Life in a Slum