Suresh relocation from his native place for a few months for his studies ------------migration
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Suresh Kumar’s Story: Migration, Caste and Class build Dharavi
Dalit History Month
Dalit History Month
Apr 26, 2020·8 min read
This article is based on an interview of Suresh Kumar and research by Nikhil Latagajanan who is a journalist, documentary filmmaker.
On a Sunday afternoon, Suresh Kumar sits in his house in a narrow lane near T-junction Dharavi recalling memories of his childhood. At 43 years old, Kumar is from the second generation of Tamil migrant Dalits staying in Mumbai.
Suresh’s memories tell his story, which like that of many others in migrants and residents, weaves itself through the history of Dharavi itself.
Dharavi is a locality situated in the central part of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra and the financial capital of India. Nearly one million people live here, most of whom are second or third generation migrants from different regions. It’s popularly known as one of the largest slums in the world today. Before transforming into a slum, Dharavi was a village of Agri Kolis, a fishing community and the original inhabitants of the seven islands that formed Bombay then. At the end of British rule, as Bombay became the financial and the commercial centre, it transformed into a hub of small industrial units producing leather goods, pottery garments, printing, steel fabrication, recycling, and so on. This economy began attracting migrant workers.