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What Was New
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Dharavi Looses Peace Activist Waqar Khan
April 13, 2009
Waqar Khan of the Mohalla Committee died of a cardiac arrest last week, days after ensuring a Ram Navmi scuffle did not escalate into a riot
A couple of years after Mumbai’s worst communal riots in 1992-1993, Dharavi’s Waqar Khan was faced with a quandary: He had planned a poster with four children — dressed as Hindu, a Muslim, a Sigh and a Christian — to promote communal harmony, his pet project ever since he saw neighbours killed in the nationwide frenzy after the Babri masjid demolition. Khan had gathered children to pose for his poster, all Muslim children. But none was willing to shave his head to play a Hindu priest. Finally, he got hold of his son Vicky and led him to the barber, unmindful of the fact that Muslim clerics would berate him for the act later.
“Such was Waqar’s dedication to his ideals,” says Bhau Korde (70), a close friend and colleague in Dharavi’s Mohalla Committee.
Read the whole article here
Read about Waqar Khan and Bhau Korde's Communal Harmony movement here
ACORN Eco Fair
March 24, 2009
Dharavi Survey
March 15, 2009
Dharavi Survey
The Dharavi Redevelopment Project appointed MASHAL, a non-for-profit organization based in Pune to undertake GIS based Biometric & Socio-Economic Baseline Survey (BSES) of all slum dwellers/ establishment owners of Dharavi and of nearly slum pockets on the Railway land between Western and Harbour Railway lines. Survey team of over 100 surveyors worked for over a year to complete survey of approximately 50,000 families/ establishment of Dharavi. Balance survey is going on without much resistance from the people. Whenever there was tension amongst the community, the police department stationed at Dharavi Police station played positive and constructive role that helped survey.
Dharavi Erasure Project
March 5, 2009
Sushil writes an eloquent reponse to a statement by Gautam Chatterjee, the Officer on Special Duty in charge of the DRP who said: “In any new layout approved, say, 15 to 25 per cent of land would be used for smaller plots for low-cost housing, whose residents would service the people living in bigger flats as drivers, cleaners, servants, dhobis, etc. ” Thats no redevelopment at all.
Read Sushil's advocacy note.
Taking the 'Slum' out of Dharavi
Feb 21, 2009
On Saturday, 21st February 2009, The New York Times carried an Op-Ed piece co-written by URBZ members Matias Echanove and Rahul Srivastava. The piece argues why the complexity of Dharavi cannot be subsumed under the generic category 'slum'. Read the whole article here
An Interview with Dharavi Stars
Feb 15, 2009
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In January 2009, some children from Dharavi, Mumbai, created music with Bappi Lahiri and DJ Paul Devro of Mad Decent. One of the songs produced was named ‘Slum Stars’, supposedly in reply to Danny Boyle’s acclaimed movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. This is an interview of the friends and family of the children taken during a party organized by Dharavi.org. This video was made by the students of CEMA (Center of Experimental Media Arts, Srishti, Bangalore) in association with Dharavi.org.
An Indian Exposure Production.
HOK proposes a master plan for Dharavi
February 14, 2009
HOK, a global architecture and planning firm proposes a new master plan for Dharavi. This is not the official master plan of the Government of Maharashtra but their own initiative. Read more here.
February 13, 2009
February 13, 2009
Here is a review of a novel that shows how Dharavi is connected to similar histories all over the sub-continent. The Hungry Tide (2004) by Amitav Ghosh, set in the Sunderban mangroves of Bengal, reveals how the categories of nature, forests, civilization and development have been used in selective ways to destabilize self-made human habitats for a very long time.
Read the full story here
February 8, 2009
The Kumbharwada tool-house, illustration by Wahid Seraj.
The Prince Charles, who visited Dharavi in 2003, cited it as a model for environmentally and socially sustainable settlement because of the way it was organised around people’s needs. He was struck by what he described as the “underlying intuitive grammar of design” that, he said, was “totally absent from the faceless slabs that are still being built around the world to ‘warehouse’ the poor.
Read the article here.
February 6, 2009
How does the media relate to Dharavi? Who do reporters speak to when they come and whose opinion counts? Would it really be so hard for reporters to come and talk to people in the street? Wouldn't that make the most interesting stories on Dharavi one has ever read? Read the full text here.
Dharavi Dhun: A Musical Journey!
February 4, 2009
Dharavi experienced music like never before with the likes of Bappi Lahiri, DJ Paul Devro and the South Dandy Squad performing and recording in and around Dharavi. Read more here.
Dharavi Expert Panel Appointed
News Coverage of Dharavi.org Party
Dharavi.org Party - Sunday 1st Feb 2009 6:30 p.m
Dance Dance - Bappi Lahiri
DJ Paul Devro (Mad Decent) will play and there will be a special announcement by popular music composer Bappi Lahiri about his collaboration with Paul and some young friends from Dharavi who have sung with them.
Venue: Jevon hall, Abyudaya Bank building, opp. Vaibhav building, 2A Dharavi Main Road, Dharavi, Mumbai 17.
Directions: If you are coming from T-Junction onto 60 Feet road (see map below), you have to take the first major turn on your left. This is Dharavi Main Road. Once you are on that road, look for a large white and blue building (Vaibhav). Ask for Abhudaya Bank. Jevon Hall terrace is in the same building as the bank.
Press conference time: 4:30 p.m.
Party at: 6:30 p.m.
Please Call 9823 209 788 or 9833 398 760 for further inquiries
Workshop with DJ Paul Devro, Saturday, 31st January 2009 at 12:00 noon
D.J. Paul Devro [Heaps Decent, Philladelphia] will work with students of the Ambedkar School Dharavi to compose their own songs. All are welcome
Venue: Ambedkar School, Dharavi, at 2PM.
Directions: Tell the taxi or rickshaw to take you to T-Junction or take a bus from either Bandra, Sion, Mahim or Chunabhatti Railway Stations to T-Junction, which is a cross road connecting Mahim, Bandra and Sion. From T- Junction walk towards the ONGC building which can easily be seen from there. Opposite the building take the Dharavi Main Road, Koliwada and walk for ten minutes in the direction of the Holy Maidan. Pass the Maidan and keep walking till you reach Ambedkar School which is next to the Ganesh Vidya Mandir (Primary Section). Ask anyone for the location of the school.
Please Call 9833 398 760 or 9823 209 788 for further inquiries
Dharavi.org in Hindi and Marathi
January 28th 2009
अब आप हिन्दी मे भी पोस्ट और टिप्पणी कर सकते है |
आता आपण मराठी माध्ये पण पोस्ट आणि टिप्पणी करू शकतात.
Communal Harmony & Bollywood Music on Republic Day
January 28th 2009
<object width="400" height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_...p;fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_...p;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="300"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://vimeo.com/2972567">Untitled</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user776788">Paul D</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.
On January 26th 2009, Dharavi joined the rest of the country in celebrating the Republic Day with its two primary passions; Bollywood music and Politics. One thunderous song after the other was interspersed with fiery speeches by community leaders. And just as the young kids danced to the beats in perfect rhythm, each speech was a sophisticated tract on contemporary politics. Open, defiant and critical of right wing rabble – rousers, each of them were progressive statements on peace, cosmopolitanism and harmony. ‘Hum Sab Ek Hain’ – a local initiative started by Bhau Korde and Waqar Khan after the 1991-92 riots was the main organizer of the event. Local community leaders were felicitated with potted plants and police officers from the neighbourhood were the official Chief Guests. However, that did not stop the organizers from pulling in five complete strangers and making them ad hoc chief guests too!
Photoshopping Neighbourhoods
January 25th 2009
Speculating ideas and images has for long been the tool of realestate developers and builders to see specific kinds of architectural and planning dreams materialize. Producing a wider range of speculative images for people to think with, play around and build on their aspirations is a useful way of combatting very rigid notions of urban futures. This collage, revealing the inner connections of Tokyo and Dharavi was produced by Wahid Seraj. Along with other speculative images by Jose 'Cole' Abasolo and Matias Echanove, they complemented an essay on Dharavi that appeared in Time Out Mumbai, January 23 - February 5.
Dharavi: Users Generated City
Planning Partnerships
January 25th 2009
January saw a collaborative effort between the residents of three municipal chawls in Dharavi Koliwada, Urban Design students of Columbia University, New York and Architecture students of Sir JJ School, Mumbai unfold in a neighbourhood in Dharavi. On the request of Mr. Ramesh Mishra, an advocate born and brought up in the Municipal Chawls in Dharavi, the students and their faculty produced a series of speculative plans for the self-development of the residential neighbourhood. The picture above shows the residents and the students discussing the output produced in just five days. Sir JJ School students are still working on the plans and Mr. Mishra hopes to use them in arguing the case for self-development of the chawls that he is fighting in court.
See our new pages: http://dharavi.org/index.php?title=D._Surveys,_Projects,_Designs_Plans_for_Dharavi/Columbia
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