Dharavi - land of opportunity

Every adversity, failure, heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit. And this is precisely what some of the young of Dharavi, the largest slum of Asia stand for. From looking at this as such a huge large mess which stinks and rots with poverty, two enterprising young guys have turned into an opportunity – starting their own tour company which gives foreigners a perspective of what the inside of a slum looks like.

Two ‘locals’, Fahim and Tauseef decided to show the others around their famed home. The aim was not to encourage poverty voyeurism but to show how some people on this earth live, study and make a living, while removing myths and fears which people carry about Dharavi and its people. Their main aim to start their own company – Be the Local, was to raise money to fund their education – Fahim is pursuing to complete his commerce graduation while Tauseef is trying to become a science graduate.

They are doing extremely well today, have their own website and enjoy what they are doing. People can book for tours through their website and they say that, "If visitors are expecting extreme poverty and despair based on movie depictions, they will be disappointed. In fact this tour actively breaks stereotypical depictions of slums."

A regular Indian like me and you might simply detest the very idea of walking around here but it would be good to actually get over that and ask oneself, "Why would you not go there. It is not about poorism, it is about spreading the awareness and fighting the negative image Dharavi has. Hats off to Dharavi people and to the student-run tours. Go for it."