saturday – dharavi and a party

more germans in college. this time it was planners from different cities doing a grand tour of mumbai – and dharavi has to be one of the stops- and now the school is on the slum tour. showed them some work and then took them to dharavi where we climbed to the top of the building that sparc built whose open corridors and central courtyard are small but so important in helping with the making of a life for the slum dweller. on the terrace the germans photographed giggling children and the corridors served as a space for a women’s meeting behind a curtain.

indru and me abandoned the rest of the group and i guided him through a journey through the labyrinth of the slum. we walked past more playing children, workshops making, baking, assembling, disassembling all the way to kumbharwada with the kilns burning a thick smoke forming a veil through which we walked. amazing – really- no art gallery extravaganza can come close.

a small party was organised at mukul’s in the evening. george, surabhi, kuntal, nandita, meha, sanaa, mukul, sonal, ranjit, prasad, rupali and paro.