The Potter’s World on a Gold Mine
For majority of us in India, a slum means poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, crime and a hot-spot of illegal activities. A typical Indian middle-class citizen thinks twice before passing through such area. Muddy roads, overflowing dustbins, wide-open sewage tanks (if there are any) and poor people make slum, as a prohibited area for us. We find bliss in calling these slums as a disgrace to our city and always welcome any act of slum demolition under the name of beautification or development of a city. But these stereotypes do crumple when we actually enter a slum and start noting details.
Dharavi, with a spread over 540 acres of land and around 70,000 households is the biggest slum in Asia. The history of Dharavi dates back to pre-independence period. As per the records the earliest colony of fishermen in this area – which is known as Dharavi today – was set up way back to 1910.
The interesting story of Dharavi started unfolding around same period. Dharavi, is located in a suburb of Mumbai called Sion, which is also known as Sheev in Marathi. The literal translation of this Marathi word is the Border. Historically, Dharavi slum was set up outside the Mumbai city (though today it has very little meaning, since Mumbai has expanded way too much) because as per the prevalent social norms of that time, people involved in occupations such as leather, pottery, fishing were considered of lower caste and their place was outside the village. As the time passed, the border has now become the centre of Mumbai and these small scale industries are still going strong.
The potters, the cobblers and the fishermen were the original residents of Dharavi. And the Kumbharwada (potter’s land) is one of the oldest colonies in Mumbai, functioning since 1912. Interestingly, the potter’s in Dharavi are from Saurashtra, Gujrat. During that period Mumbai was establishing as a port and sea-route was the only convenient itinerary to reach Mumbai from Gujrat. Around 150/200 potter families used to come from Saurashtra –via sea to Mumbai for eight months of a year. The soil around Dharavi area was perfect for their business of pottery. These families used to live in small huts made up of coconut tree leaf. In 1930, all these huts were burned in an inferno, after which the trader community in Mumbai helped these potter families with money, food and shelter.
During that period, the potters requested for an enduring land to then British government, with the help of trader community of Mumbai. The British government approved their request the allotted the 13.5 acres of land in Dharavi on a lease of 99 years, after which these 200 families were settled permanently in Dharavi and started their small-scale business of producing earthen pots, diyas, murals etc. Amazingly, the descendants of those 200 potter families are still working at the same place. Only 5-6 families have left Dharavi and have returned to Saurashtra.
Nathabhai Chauhan, is a well-known and highly respected potter from Kumbharwada. His pots, diyas and other decorative items are extremely popular amongst the upper-middle class and middle-class market. He also provides a number of items for Hindi serials and films. He describes the change in pottering industry. He said “In older days my father used to sell 50 pots for 3 rupees and now one pot costs around 150 rupees. We used to get our soil from nearby area, but now it is impossible to get soil from Mumbai, so we have to import soil from Saurashtra. That kills the small potter. Many are planning to quit this profession.” Kumbharwada in Dharavi, produces around 70% earthen pots and diyas which are being sold in Mumbai. The 13 acres of land gives employment to around 2000 workers. Nathabhai believes that pottery is an art. He goes around different places conducting workshops on pottery. He was invited in Sir J. J. School of Arts for a special lecture on pottery. “My children are not interested in pottery. One is in Australia and other is in America. And daughter is doing her M.A. It is better to spread knowledge than to confine
it,” he says.
Dhansukh Parmar is the President of Prajapati Society in Kumbharwada. Prajapati Society is a registered society for the well-being of potter community. The Society provides raw material for furnaces at reasonable rates. The age-old furnaces, made up of bricks require raw material such as cotton. As the cotton-mills in Mumbai started closing down, the supply of cotton waste to Kumbharwada was scanted. Without proper raw material the furnaces stopped functioning, without furnace the soil items could not be baked, ultimately the potter’s life became hell. The pollution caused by the old-furnaces was also important. The Prajapati Society is trying to answer all these questions. The raw material issue is still unresolved. They import the waste-cotton from Gujrat, which increases the total cost of a product. The society is also trying to set-up gas furnaces to counter the pollution problem.
Yousuf Mulla, does not care about pollution. He said, “yahan khane ko paisa nahi, pollution kaun dekhega?”(We don’t have enough money to eat, who will care for pollution?). According to him these gas furnaces have limited functionality and will constrain present productivity. “Kumbharwada is like a melting pot. We are Gujrati Muslims. Those are Gujrati Hindus. But when it comes to business, we all are Potters” Yousuf explained the economics in simple words. “Poverty is inevitable. Does not matter which language they speak or which religion they belong to. Closing of cotton-mills not only affected the mill-workers but to entire Kumbharwada.”
Dharavi is a place where one can find a person from almost every Indian state. With over 30% Tamil population (who started and still dominates the leather industry), it is the only place in Maharashtra where parties such as All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (AIADMK), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham (DMK) contest Municipality elections. The posters of Jayalalitha (former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu), Vijaykanth (famous Tamil film actor turned politician) and Sushil Kumar Shinde (an influential congress leader, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and cabinet minister in current UPA government) can be found on the same wall. Nadar community from Tamil Nadu has a strong presence in Dharavi. Albert Nadar a respected member of the community owns a very popular hotel in Dharavi.
The Marathi community constitutes 30% of the total population. Most of the population belongs to SC category and work in the leather industry. Dharavi is the main production centre for Papads, gives employment to thousands of women. Farsan, a very popular namkeen snack is produced in Dharavi. Though official figures regarding leather and farsan industries are not available, it is estimated that 9000 to 10,000 people are dependent on these small scale business market. The Muslim community is in to hotel and tailoring business. “Every child in Dharavi can speak at least three languages and when he/she goes to a school he/she speaks English also” Yousuf said, with a smirk.
“Poverty does not mean that Dharavi is a criminals’ paradise. Look at the density of population of Dharavi and of Malabar Hill (Rich area in South Mumbai) and then talk about the criminal activities. People here do fear the police.” Raju Korde, conveyer of Dharavi Bhachao Andolan (DBA) makes his point. DBA was formed in 2004, when the Government of Maharashtra came up with the Dharavi Redevelopment Project, worth rupees 20,600 crores.
For DBA and Raju Korde the struggle has just begun. “The government wants to throw us out under the smart name of redevelopment. People do not want to live in slums, but we have our terms and conditions. We will not bend as per government rules, which are influenced by real estate lobby.” Mr. Korde states it clearly.
“Just ask them, why so sudden interest in Dharavi?” he asks. “We are standing at the centre of Mumbai now. May be we are standing on a land which will cost many lakh per square feet. We are seating on a gold mine. 540 acres of gold mine.”
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