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The Plight of Dharavi Potters
Rajen Nair
In the heart of the metropolitan city of Mumbai lies Dharavi, one of Asia's largest slums. Spread over 535 acres the area is unique for housing about 4,500 industrial units. Some famous industries are located here, including tanneries, leather workers, potteries, garment makers and even chemical plants.
In June 2007, the government floated global tenders for the 90-billion-rupee Slum-free Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP). It has since run into rough weather.
The project envisages undertaking about 70 million square feet of construction. Some 30 million square feet of that will be for residential space and amenities, whereas the remaining 40 million square feet will be put up for sale.
About 4,500 industrial units will be rehabilitated in the designated commercial area. Polluting units, such as the leather industry, will be shifted elsewhere, and only non-polluting and non-hazardous units would be allowed to stay. Around 57,000 new houses with an area of 225 square feet will be built for the residents of Dharavi.
The people of Dharavi are opposed to the rehabilitation project. They have formed Dharavi Bachao Samiti (Save Dharavi) to voice their grievance to the government.
Locals feel that their livelihoods are threatened by the rehabilitation plan. The housing area allotted to them under the DRP — 225 square feet — is smaller than their existing houses, which are 500 to 1,000 square feet in area.
Recently, I visited the unique Prajapati Kumbhar, which is comprised of the community of potters located in the Kumbharwada area of Dharavi.
There are about 1,000 potters in Dharavi. They are migrants whose forefathers left their hometowns in Gujarat, in western India, during the 1930s, in search of better earnings and livelihoods in Mumbai city.
Pottery was once a thriving industry, but not anymore, according to Kanthilal (who asked that I not use his real name), a potter in his mid-thirties who lives with his wife, children, unmarried brothers and sisters, and aging parents in a dilapidated shanty about 600 square feet in area. Kanthilal says pottery is no longer a lucrative business as market demands for pots is fast diminishing. As this is the only trade Kanthilal has inherited from his father, he has no option but to carry on pottery despite the low return.
Basically, pots are made out of mud and clay and rolled and shaped by hand with the help of rotating wheels. Pottery making, which involves a certain deftness and craftsmanship, is considered an age-old traditional art in India.
In the past people stored drinking water in pots, which helped to cool it, but refrigerator water bottles have replaced pots. Tea is no longer served in pots on trains, having been replaced by disposable plastic cups. Even clay flowerpots are slowly being replaced by much lighter and unbreakable plastic ones.
The demand for pottery today is seasonal; for example, for festivals like Diwali, the festival of lights that takes place in October-November, when clay lamps are used to light houses.
Kanthilal said that most of the members of his community are opting out of pottery for other trades as it has become extremely difficult for them to survive on their meager earning of about $250 per month. Potters average around $2,500 a year in earnings. Kanthilal does not want his children to follow in his footsteps but to look for better opportunities after completing their educations.
Kanthilal is opposed to the controversial DRP. The smaller living area would be too small to accommodate his extended family and his pottery business.
The government seems determined to go ahead with the DRP. Thousands of potters like Kanthilal are bracing for a grim future. At stake are not only the age-old traditional of pottery making but the very existence of the kumbhar (potter) community.(For images visit my site- www.rajennair.com)
The Plight of Dharavi Potters
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blokesablogin
February 11, 2008
03:21 AM
I think, people like kanthilal need to get some publicity campaign going for them to get more people to buy pots- "Keeping your water cool without an electric bill
" The Green solution for cool water" etc. It can be made a "mailorder business" as most people are so busy and can barely travel with a pot on public transport, the pot needs to reach them rather than them buying the pot. even today, we buy a pot for the summer on Tamizh new year's day (April 14) and throw in vettiver to make the water scented and delicious. A glass of matka pani is more of a thirst quencher than liters of fridge water.
Mexican potters, faced with the same problem have moved to decorated pottery to be used as "decor" with different motifs o them. Our potters need to adapt to the new market as much as all of us are.
Chandra
February 11, 2008
06:42 AM
Basically, these potters are screwed unless somebody found a way to reposition their product. Old product with a new use if you will.
On a separate issue, this family illustrates how overpopulation is eating India from inside.
Lastly, as moving as this story may be, Mumbaikars should stop deluding themselves about how great their city is. It is easily the worst city to live in India. Clean up has to happen...sooner or later......
commonsense
February 11, 2008
01:17 PM
Pretty sad! Heartless as it may sound, social change happens...it's a question of how certain transitions are managed by reducing hardships...roughly the same story for a number of handicraft industries and much more...
commonsense
February 11, 2008
01:18 PM
A photo-essay capturing the pathos and dislocated lives? On second thoughts, maybe not...these folks are going thru hell and the last thing they need is to have it displayed globally...
smallsquirrel
February 11, 2008
01:40 PM
oh come on common, give this guy a break :)
he has not photographed this in order to be exploitative. he has written a piece about something he is genuinely concerned about and it says right there that he is a freelance journalist. there is a serious difference between taking pics to exploit and what this guy did. he *humanized* them, and he talked to them as individuals.
how else are social issues supposed to come to light if people do not document them?
temporal
URL
February 11, 2008
02:30 PM
rajen
absolutely great!
you should have linked them here:)
LINK
commonsense
February 11, 2008
04:25 PM
SS and Temporal:
Couldn't agree more! It is the "intention" behind the act that matters more than anything else. My mixed feelings come from hesitating to photograph folks who may not wish to be photographed, especially those who are down on their luck (privacy, last shred of dignity, whatever reasons they might have). Obviously Mr. Nair is full of empathy for these poor folks dealing with mind-boggling social change as well as being pilloried by the usual land-grabbers...no criticism intended...
commonsense
February 11, 2008
04:34 PM
Not that Rajen Nair is seeking my approval (far from it, since for most I have been the kiss of death!), but I did go to your site. Remarkable images. Take it from someone who dabbles in photography with a social angle. I loved the quote too: "when words fail, images take over"!
neusinger
February 11, 2008
07:14 PM
Could we all be romanticizing this just a little bit? What does it say for not just one man, but a whole community to carry on doing something that has been steadily declining for decades?
Ravi, I am afraid: "As this is the only trade Kanthilal has inherited from his father, he has no option but to carry on pottery despite the low return" just doesn't cut it.
Why is depending on an inheritance to survive any different than asking for a handout? It completely negates any idea of individual will and responsibility. Reading some of the comments it appears to me, and I may be quite mistaken, that many of the commentators would rather have these folks continue to produce outmoded products that have little use rather than teach them a new trade or, god forbid, provide them with an education.
Deepa Krishnan
URL
February 11, 2008
09:52 PM
The children of the potters go to school. Look at these photos:
http://www.rajennair.com/gallery18.asp
rajen nair
URL
February 11, 2008
11:51 PM
Thanks for your absorbing comments. More than the text it is the images, I believe, that speaks the truth.
Link to images on potters-
http://www.rajennair.com
blokesablogin
February 14, 2008
03:50 AM
I believe that the art of pottery needs to be given new "direction" in today's world. Here, in the US, pottery classes have found to help alleviate stress with the simple but profound feel of wet clay between your fingers. Pottery is an age old art form that has helped archeologists piece together human past. People need to be 'taught" the green power of pots vs fridges. The use of "disposable" kullads (made with unfired clay) need to be introduced in the place of plastic cups that are destroying our land and water sources. The society that takes care of its potter will live to posterity. And one who "destroys" the potter, will shatter itself like a pot thrown to the ground.
rajen nair
URL
February 14, 2008
11:01 PM
blokesablogin, Useful suggestions you made.
"Here, in the US, pottery classes have found to help alleviate stress with the simple but profound feel of wet clay between your fingers "
I wish this form of therapy is introduced in India.
neusinger
February 15, 2008
12:55 AM
blokesablogin that was a poetic post!
"will shatter itself like a pot thrown to the ground"
Wah Wah!
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