आमच्या ऑफिस मध्ये गुरुवार हा capacity building साठी असतो। त्या दिवशी आम्ही सगळे मिळून वेगवेगळ्या topics वर discussions करतो किंवा documentaries बघतो. ह्या गुरुवारी आम्ही एक मस्त डॉक्युमेंटरी बघितली

ही फिल्म Rizvi College of Architecture मधून गेल्याच वर्षी पास-आउट झालेल्या फैजान जावेद सिद्दीकी ह्या एक तरुण मुलाने Equitable cities, sustainable transport and humane habitats ही फ़िल्म बनवली आहे। ह्या फ़िल्म मधून तो वेगवेगळ्या देशातल्या शहरामध्ये जाउन public tansport आणि शहरांचा कसा सम्बन्ध आहे? याचा सखोल अभ्यासा केला होता। ह्या फ़िल्म मधून आपल्या देशातल्या Transport सम्बन्धीची धोरण किती चुकीची आणि आधार नसलेली आहेत, आज आपल्या कड़े metros yet aahet. MMRDA सारख्या agencies fly over बांधते आहे, पण ह्या सगाल्यामुले Traffic, congestions सारखे प्रश्न सुटणार आहेत का? काहि युरोपियन देशानी कालाची गरजा बघता शहरामध्ये सायकल झोन सुरु केले आहेत, आणि ह्या सगल्या बाबी त्यानी स्ट्रोंग "Political will " च्या जोरावर शाक्य केल्या आहेत। आपल्या देशात जाहिराती आशा काहि जादू करतात की लोकांची नविन कार घेण्याची भूक वाढत राहते.आणि ह्या विकासाला/ विनाशाला ? जबाबदार कोण? जहिरातिना पुश करणार्या कार काम्पन्य? की न विचार करता नव्या नव्या कार घेणारी आपण लोक?

बहुधा भविष्यातल चित्र सद्यस्थीती पेक्षा काहि वेगळ नसणार आहे

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by Reshma ~ Friday, March 6, 2009 1 comments

New beginnings…

I joined a research collective called PUKAR-Partners for Urban Knowledge, Action & Research about 8 months ago. My job now takes me to the innermost sanctums of one of Mumbai’s most debated areas, Dharavi. The project, Mythologies of Mumbai, researches the people, the culture and livelihoods . My past experience in the field of development involved working in Dharavi on Microfinance-self help groups of women who lived there and this has helped me these past few months… At the beginning I slowly started exploring the area and observed that whatever I knew about Dharavi was neither too little nor enough for the kind of research that my new job required.

After a few days of me joining PUKAR, a girl from New York Lisa joined my project. She is working on water politics in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai for her PhD. To get myself more acquainted with the area, I started reading a book called “Rediscovering Dharavi ” written by Kalpana Sharma a well known journalist. I was amazed by the kind of data I came across in the book.

One day Lisa & I thought of making a trip to Dharavi, just to walk around. We started with Kumbharwada, a historical pottery community who have been in Dharavi for the last century. We went lane by lane observing the pottery making process. I thought about it and realised that to understand the community and its processes I needed to get to know the people. Just reading and scientifically researching the community would not help at all.

After walking through the potter’s community we walked towards an open space which turned out to be a crematorium which was also indicated in the Google map we had with us. As it was time for Namaz, we couldn’t enter and so we didn’t go further on that inner road. From there, we crossed and entered a small lane on Sant Kakkaiya road which is inhabited by people of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka … there I happened to find the same co-operative housing society which was referred to me by one of my local friends from Dharavi. We spoke to some of the residents for permission to shoot from the building terrace and we got it quite easily. I couldn’t believe securing permission in this area would be so easy. Not only that, the welcome we received was great.

On that same day early in the morning, a colleague, who is a professional photographer, and I went to Dharavi for ariel view shots from the terraces of tall buildings and identified some. We selected a few sites namely, Shastri Nagar –which gives 2 views of houses in Dharavi and another was Mahatma Gandhi Co-op Housing Society at Sion Bandra Link Road. In this process he identified 3 more premises for good ariel views, Gold Field Towers, Vaibhav Apartments (built by Raheja Builders) and Satyam Shivam Sundaram Co-op Housing Society near Sant Kakkaiya Road .

At the end of the day, on my way back home, I happened to take the bus instead of the train. The bus route passed the very same premises and towers which we had been reviewing during the day. The day took me to places I had never been to in the last three years of my work there. I felt a sense of accomplishment through discovering these virtually hidden places in the inner sanctums of Dharavi. I felt proud to be apart of this vibrant part of Mumbai.

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by Reshma ~ Thursday, March 5, 2009 1 comments