The Other India

I was 16 when I joined an NGO that gave education to underprivileged students. My very first day was in Dharavi - Mumbai. As my taxi went through the road deeper and inside the lanes of Dharavi, I could feel the Mumbai which is shown in movies and which is written in books is gone far away. The place I was in was full of life. It looked like the scene where ants are working together in places everywhere. Every house had ladders and life built upon life, families lived upon families. I was directed to a room where I was supposed to teach the kids. I passed door after door. Doors that were open wide. Houses had women working on sewing machines, creaking table fans, swings made of saree for just born kids, piles of vessels filled with water and small photographs on the walls with garland on them. In the rooms of 10*10 square feet, people created homes. The room I entered had no roof. Walls were broken. It had a black board and a chair. One hour went by, nobody showed up. Just when I was...

  “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." – Henry Ford Prathamesh Hirve, Scientist, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) never took his eyes from his goal despite it all. His hard work, self-belief and determination helped him realize his dreams. Hirve completed his engineering from Smt Indira Gandhi College of Engineering in Navi Mumbai and has also interned in companies like TATA steel and L&T. Getting selected for a Diploma was the initial step to his achieving his dream.   But his journey to success was not an easy one. When he attended a career guidance session, he was told to choose a stream different from science as he may not have aptitude for it. Coming from a Marathi medium school, he faced difficulty in understanding the technical terms and concepts in English when suddenly exposed to them while pursuing diploma. Many advised him that engineering wasn’t his cup of tea and it required immense talent. Living in ...

V. Unbeatable is a dance crew based in Mumbai, India. The team was formed in 2012 by Vikas Gupta and Om prakash. They called it ‘Simply Unbeatable’. The acrobats team from Mumbai slums changed its name to V. Unbeatable for a reason. In 2014, Vikas Gupta got injured while performing a stunt during rehearsal. He was paralyzed neck down and passed away a couple of weeks later. It is in his honor that the team changed their name. The team also wear Vikas’s name on the backs of their T-shirt during performances. Vikas’s death highlights just how dangerous the group’s performances are, as they fly through the air without nets or mats under them. The dancers came from the slums and underprivileged backgrounds in Mumbai. V Unbeatable is comprised of dancers between the ages of 12 and 28. They live in poor living conditions with many people staying in a house and face lack of electricity, drinking water, clean space etc. Despite it all, their love and passion for dancing kept them moving. The...

   Mission Dharavi : An Example for the whole world A slum made miracle! There is no better phrase to describe. A collective effort from the NGOs, medical team, paramedical team, engineering team, private practitioners and the people of Dharavi pulled the rabbit out of the hat.Covid19 curve flattened in a matter of weeks where it was expected to spread like wildfire. Dharavi is undoubtedly one of the biggest slums Asia has seen so far. Extending her hands she stretches up to 2.5sqkm of area which is a home for more than 9 Lakh Indians. Without proper hygiene, toilet facilities, 10x10 hutments, high population and unclean environment unlike any other this place will give scare to an average Indian. Adding to this most of the people from Dharavi are working in essential services like hospital nurses, ward boys, food delivery workers. With these conditions present in Dharavi, Social distancing and home quarantine becomes unimaginable.  Regardless this limitations Dharavi bol...