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Syndicate this Article Copy to clipboard Classy Urbane Slum Area Of AndheriAuthor: Praveena Vuppalapati

The first time I visited Bombay (now Mumbai) was when I was 8 years old. I went to visit my aunt who lived in Dadar. She lived in one of the well to do multi storied apartment complex. I was born and brought up in Hyderabad. Such big multi storied apartment complex was a rare sight during that period in Hyderabad. Everything I saw in Mumbai surprised me a lot. Big apartment complexes, local trains, taxis, overhead bridges, shoe park, children museum, never ending list. 

 

Out of this big list of experiences which amazed me, one experience which stood apart from others was the slum area. The bedroom I was sharing with my aunt in that apartment on the 9th floor had a big balcony with an overview to the slum area in the neighborhood. That was the first time that I was looking at a slum area with such close proximity. Even today I don't know why but that slum area used to pull my attention more than anything else when strolling or relaxing in the balcony. I used to watch the kids there a lot. They appeared to be happy souls screaming and running around and play until the last drop of energy is exhausted. Have food in open ground and sleep under the stars (It was summer time when I visited). Maybe since I was a kid, it must have caught my attention as a different world of freedom where there is no homework, no school, no exams and just play and play though I remember feeling bad seeing there unclean sometimes torn clothes. The slum area then was like cluster of individual huts I used to see in Hyderabad but with better roofs. 

 

Days passed and almost after 20 years destiny brought me again to Mumbai as a married lady but this time for staying there and not visiting.  I and my husband used to travel daily in car to our work place from Navi Mumbai to Andheri. On the way we used to pass Powai Lake. This was a very posh locality with all the sophisticated buildings and shopping centers on one side and the beautiful Powai Lake on the other side. Immediately after crossing this area, we used to pass through a stretch of nearly a mile which was slum area on both the sides. This again re-kindled my childhood memories and as I kept watching this slum area daily in the morning and evening, slowly this started to fascinate me a lot more on there life style. Being a vivid observer of nature, buildings and anything I come across while traveling, this slum area grabbed by special attention because of the life style of this slum area residents. 

 

The road passing through this slum area always had traffic jam. This gave me more time to peek into this slum area more intimately. The houses here were something like real size match boxes. Most of the residents here used the small space in front of there houses as part of there house space. Because of this most of the time the door was open and gave me closer look of the things inside. As I started observing the furniture and other electronics in these houses, I did not find much difference from what a middle class family has. They have a TV, refrigerator, double cot bed, dresser, air cooler, grinder, two-wheeler for commute etc. These are more than minimum necessity for a living. The difference may be in the brand they use. But as long as you get good sleep what difference it makes if it is a costly branded mattress or a local mattress. And yes, I agree that the woman have to get water from the public pumps or fill their big tanks/tumblers when the water tank comes in. But most of the apartment complexes are no exception to water problem in metro cities. 

 

And if we dwell into their daily routine it was not much different from what a common middle class family does. Everyday I used to see most of the ladies getting ready to go to work. One lady putting lipstick, the other tying her hair very elegantly and putting clip to it and the other adjusting the dark colorful sari as she is stepping out the house, other putting something in her beautiful pearl like studded hand purse, other eating something while watching TV and talking to her other family members and yet other pulling the belt of her high heeled scandals. Not all the middle class woman dresses up the same way too. Again the difference may be the brand and quality but if we for a moment forget about that, it is almost the same life style. In the evening while returning from office I used to see the ladies cutting vegetables as they are watching TV and some washing clothes chatting with their neighbors and some others feeding there infant kids. They seemed much relaxed after the day's work and ready for there family chores and spend quality time with there family members. Whereas I was still in the car/bus on my way home which might be take another 1-2 hrs based on traffic. By the time I reach home I used to be so tired that I have my dinner cooked by housemaid and go to sleep. In the morning get up in a rush to reach office on time and sometimes get ready in car while my husband is driving. The thought of who is spending quality time with family used to linger in my mind. 

 

All these observations bring in the question in my mind as to what is the definition of slum area? What is definition of being a well settled middle class family? Is it just the type of house we stay in and the locality the house is situated in? Is it the brand furniture and dresses we use or the costly restaurants we dine in forgoing the touch of house made food due to lack of time? Is it the vacation places we go with the micro family, spending lot of money forgoing the bigger family get together at grand mother's house? Sometimes as these questions linger in my mind I keep wondering who are really. Is it these people living in these slum areas with almost all the facilities or the people in the sophisticated urbane jungle who always have to struggle to get quality free time or maintain the status in society? 

 

To add to this I was totally astonished when I came to know that some of the people living in these slum areas owned the small land on which they have there houses and that they cost more than a medium sized apartment owned by middle class family in Navi Mumbai. Yes, they are not able to send there children to schools with all amenities and they cannot afford to continue there children higher education and we don't see many of these kids becoming engineers, doctors or collectors or flying abroad to work in techy companies. But at the same time seeing them from outside I cannot over rule the fact that maybe not all of them really want there children to excel in studies but just get some decent earning. 

 

My objective here is not to squabble on the life of people living in slum areas. But want to share my thought and bewilderment I encountered each time I passed through the slum area. And also I completely agree that in spite of having similarities, we cannot lead there lives but they can always lead our lives. That is another privilege they have vs middle class family. The point I want to bring to attention of readers is that the slum area is not as pathetic, un-hygienic as it is presented in international journals or movies. It is a place where families with respectable earnings live in decent furnished houses. At the same time since my exposure has been to only slum area in one city, my statement may not be valid in all cases. But with the analogy I drew from my observation I awed each time to myself saying "Wow!! What an urbane and classy slum area of 21st century."

About the Author:

Software Engineer in one of the top Networking Companies in Bay Area.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/news-and-society-articles/classy-urbane-slum-area-of-andheri-788026.html

The first time I visited Bombay (now Mumbai) was when I was 8 years old. I went to visit my aunt who lived in Dadar. She lived in one of the well to do multi storied apartment complex. I was born and brought up in Hyderabad. Such big multi storied apartment complex was a rare sight during that period in Hyderabad. Everything I saw in Mumbai surprised me a lot. Big apartment complexes, local trains, taxis, overhead bridges, shoe park, children museum, never ending list. 

 

Out of this big list of experiences which amazed me, one experience which stood apart from others was the slum area. The bedroom I was sharing with my aunt in that apartment on the 9th floor had a big balcony with an overview to the slum area in the neighborhood. That was the first time that I was looking at a slum area with such close proximity. Even today I don't know why but that slum area used to pull my attention more than anything else when strolling or relaxing in the balcony. I used to watch the kids there a lot. They appeared to be happy souls screaming and running around and play until the last drop of energy is exhausted. Have food in open ground and sleep under the stars (It was summer time when I visited). Maybe since I was a kid, it must have caught my attention as a different world of freedom where there is no homework, no school, no exams and just play and play though I remember feeling bad seeing there unclean sometimes torn clothes. The slum area then was like cluster of individual huts I used to see in Hyderabad but with better roofs. 

 

Days passed and almost after 20 years destiny brought me again to Mumbai as a married lady but this time for staying there and not visiting.  I and my husband used to travel daily in car to our work place from Navi Mumbai to Andheri. On the way we used to pass Powai Lake. This was a very posh locality with all the sophisticated buildings and shopping centers on one side and the beautiful Powai Lake on the other side. Immediately after crossing this area, we used to pass through a stretch of nearly a mile which was slum area on both the sides. This again re-kindled my childhood memories and as I kept watching this slum area daily in the morning and evening, slowly this started to fascinate me a lot more on there life style. Being a vivid observer of nature, buildings and anything I come across while traveling, this slum area grabbed by special attention because of the life style of this slum area residents. 

 

The road passing through this slum area always had traffic jam. This gave me more time to peek into this slum area more intimately. The houses here were something like real size match boxes. Most of the residents here used the small space in front of there houses as part of there house space. Because of this most of the time the door was open and gave me closer look of the things inside. As I started observing the furniture and other electronics in these houses, I did not find much difference from what a middle class family has. They have a TV, refrigerator, double cot bed, dresser, air cooler, grinder, two-wheeler for commute etc. These are more than minimum necessity for a living. The difference may be in the brand they use. But as long as you get good sleep what difference it makes if it is a costly branded mattress or a local mattress. And yes, I agree that the woman have to get water from the public pumps or fill their big tanks/tumblers when the water tank comes in. But most of the apartment complexes are no exception to water problem in metro cities. 

 

And if we dwell into their daily routine it was not much different from what a common middle class family does. Everyday I used to see most of the ladies getting ready to go to work. One lady putting lipstick, the other tying her hair very elegantly and putting clip to it and the other adjusting the dark colorful sari as she is stepping out the house, other putting something in her beautiful pearl like studded hand purse, other eating something while watching TV and talking to her other family members and yet other pulling the belt of her high heeled scandals. Not all the middle class woman dresses up the same way too. Again the difference may be the brand and quality but if we for a moment forget about that, it is almost the same life style. In the evening while returning from office I used to see the ladies cutting vegetables as they are watching TV and some washing clothes chatting with their neighbors and some others feeding there infant kids. They seemed much relaxed after the day's work and ready for there family chores and spend quality time with there family members. Whereas I was still in the car/bus on my way home which might be take another 1-2 hrs based on traffic. By the time I reach home I used to be so tired that I have my dinner cooked by housemaid and go to sleep. In the morning get up in a rush to reach office on time and sometimes get ready in car while my husband is driving. The thought of who is spending quality time with family used to linger in my mind. 

 

All these observations bring in the question in my mind as to what is the definition of slum area? What is definition of being a well settled middle class family? Is it just the type of house we stay in and the locality the house is situated in? Is it the brand furniture and dresses we use or the costly restaurants we dine in forgoing the touch of house made food due to lack of time? Is it the vacation places we go with the micro family, spending lot of money forgoing the bigger family get together at grand mother's house? Sometimes as these questions linger in my mind I keep wondering who are really. Is it these people living in these slum areas with almost all the facilities or the people in the sophisticated urbane jungle who always have to struggle to get quality free time or maintain the status in society? 

 

To add to this I was totally astonished when I came to know that some of the people living in these slum areas owned the small land on which they have there houses and that they cost more than a medium sized apartment owned by middle class family in Navi Mumbai. Yes, they are not able to send there children to schools with all amenities and they cannot afford to continue there children higher education and we don't see many of these kids becoming engineers, doctors or collectors or flying abroad to work in techy companies. But at the same time seeing them from outside I cannot over rule the fact that maybe not all of them really want there children to excel in studies but just get some decent earning. 

 

My objective here is not to squabble on the life of people living in slum areas. But want to share my thought and bewilderment I encountered each time I passed through the slum area. And also I completely agree that in spite of having similarities, we cannot lead there lives but they can always lead our lives. That is another privilege they have vs middle class family. The point I want to bring to attention of readers is that the slum area is not as pathetic, un-hygienic as it is presented in international journals or movies. It is a place where families with respectable earnings live in decent furnished houses. At the same time since my exposure has been to only slum area in one city, my statement may not be valid in all cases. But with the analogy I drew from my observation I awed each time to myself saying "Wow!! What an urbane and classy slum area of 21st century."

Software Engineer in one of the top Networking Companies in Bay Area.

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