a toilet on the edge of the dump yard
kids on the road skirting the dump
the road to the toilet
today prasad and me drove to govandi to see a toilet. prasad, on the tour for the ‘spaces of entrepreneurship’ tour wanted to show the group this toilet run in the slums near the dump yard run by a certain sattar bhai. after a detour that took us through smoking piles of garbage with children playing cricket in between and on top. the slum on the edge of the dump was probably the home to the lowest rung of the poor in the city – rag pickers who would not find space anywhere else. the slum rehabilitation schemes that are to transform these areas will never get here as no builder will be able to sell anything in the area what with the stench in the air.
the toilet we were looking for was a two storied affair with sattar bhais office above. a small school wrapped around the toilet and the kids were playing in the slime and dust that rose around. the toilet was being painted and prasad and me sat on the terrace sipping sweet tea and eating biscuits as sattar bhai regaled us with stories about the advantages of privatization of water and the politics of sanitation in the city.
as with any experience in the city riddled with startling contradictions we lunched with chitra immediately after at yokos sizzlers at the hiranandani galleria in powai below faux arcades.
from the terrace of the toilet to the dump yard
the toilet with the school in the foreground
sattar bhai
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