Dharavi, often termed Asia's largest slum cluster occupies 525 acres of prime land in the heard of Mumbai. Photo: YUVA When you walk the streets of Dharavi today, it’s hard to imagine that its crooked but solid houses, informal but sophisticated business networks and heterogenous but distinct culture have been built over the remnants of a Koli fishing village. At the end of the nineteenth century, when industries like leather, waste-recycling, etc. were deemed too hazardous for colonial South Bombay, the peri-urban, swamp land which was home to the Koli fishing community became the saving grace for the displaced industries.…
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