A new tourist favourite- Dharavi slum, Mumbai

India is home to a multitude of tourist places and attracts numerous global as well as local tourists. The Taj Mahal, the Pink City, Agra Fort, Golconda, and many other spots have been on top of iconic places to visit in the tourist lists. However, there has been a new and no less than extraordinary addition in the ‘Traveller’s choice Experiences 2019- India’ list by Trip Advisor. It turns out people’s recent favorite tourist destination is Asia’s largest slum- the Dharavi Slum in Mumbai. The slum has made repetitive appearances in the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire and recently in the much-acclaimed movie Gully Boy. Much to the surprise of travel agencies across the world, it has surpassed Taj Mahal and Agra tour, private-half day Bollywood tour, a private tour of Old and New Delhi, and Hyderabad Full day tour. Dharavi slum tour has now bagged the 10th spot of best tourist destinations in Asia.

Dharavi Slum houses about a million people, who indulge in household enterprises of leather, textile and pottery. It is quite susceptible to epidemics and infections owing to the unpleasant sanitary conditions. Although developmental projects for the area have been incessantly proposed, none of them materialized on the ground. The houses are a mess of ramshackle corrugated tin, plywood, plastic, pukkah bricks, sheets of asbestos and a pile of earth, sand, and clay. Villagers from across Mumbai come and settle at Dharavi to look for jobs in the star-studded city. Water scarcity and education are not an exception but ways of living for the slum dwellers- many of them start their education at Dharavi and few of them finish.

The Dharavi slum tour has also raised ethical questions about how ironical it is to be photographed in thousand-buck lenses. As tour agencies explain, most of the tourists are amicable, kind and interact with the people staying in and around.

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