Rediscovering Dharavi: Stories from Asia's Largest Slum
by Kalpana Sharma; Penguin Books India, 2000, New Delhi, paperback, pp xxxviii + 209, INR 200. ISBN: 014 1000 236
Asia's largest slum is a testament of the state's failure to address the …of Bombay city's expansive …elly. It is also a grim reminded the gracious people of how the underclass survives.
In the Introduction to her book, Rediscovering Dharavi: Stories from Asia's Largest Slum, Kalpana Sharma makes a brave admission: "Like many others in Mumbai, I too did not know precisely what and where was this 'slum' called Dharavi. I discovered it, so to speak, during the 1992-93 communal riots… As a journalist, I had to visit Dharavi frequently to report on the riots…" The rest of the book is a testament to just how precisely and thoroughly she then set about discovering what and where Dharavi is, and more importantly—if one may be permitted a little grammatical licence—why it is.