No peepshow here, please: Mumbai’s historic precincts deserve respect, not spectacle

Dharavi became a slum tourism hub soon after Slumdog Millionaire was released in 2008. PIC/ATUL KAMBLE

The year was 2008. Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire had been certified as a blockbuster hit. Dharavi had catapulted onto the world stage as the ‘it' place to visit, to experience the ‘real Mumbai', warts and all. Soon, opportunistic local trail planners that leaned towards non-Indian tourists jumped onto the bandwagon, and began to market the slum. We learnt that the booming slum tourism economy, common across Rio de Janeiro's many favelas (favela: Cluster of settlements inhabited by squatters, and lacking in basic amenities), might have offered inspiration.

The trend caught on like wildfire, and trails to explore Dharavi popped up from all sides with plenty of takers. To get a pulse of this phenomenon, the editor of the newsmagazine I was then working at, suggested I go undercover to gauge the authenticity of these trails. The end result was an eye-opener. The travel group that had organised my walk was spot-on with the target audience of mostly privileged firangs, keen to get a slice of "Daaravee". Halts included carefully curated sections of the slum.

Khotachiwadi, Ranwar and other heritage neighbourhoods face the threat of constant invasion from Instagrammers, trail organisers, and reel-makers. Pic/Fiona Fernandez

However, what caught my attention was the scant respect that the guide showed towards dwellers as we moved into the residential quarters. These tourists went berserk, clicking photos, from windowsills, to snot-faced children and emaciated seniors. One tourist looked thrilled after he captured an ageing goat beside a nullah. A woman who owned a papad-making home enterprise, scolded the guide for bringing tourists into her home without her permission as they photographed her sunning papads in the courtyard. "Your greed for money will get me into trouble, like the last time," she scowled. A few photos from a previous trail had reached bribe-seeking local authorities, who shut her small-scale gig for a while, thereby affecting her daily earnings. That trail offered insight into the extent to which people can go to offer an ‘experience'.

Cut to the present. The handwritten sign that sprung up in Ranwar Village last week, requesting a ban on photography and modelling, is testimony of things having got out of hand. Bandra's residents and guardians, who work hard to retain the historicity of these villages, will tell you that this was waiting to happen. Try walking down the gullies of Chimbai, Waroda Road, Ranwar or Sherly-Rajan Road, and chances are you will spot at least one walking group; if you aren't careful, you could also be run over by a speeding Rolls-Royce Phantom. Add to that the countless hangers-on junta who mill around the newest cool, Instagrammable-café, and you have a daylong raucous in these once-quaint neighbourhoods that defined Bandra.

I recall an instance while walking through Chimbai. It seemed like a quiet afternoon to soak in the charming locality where the shore plays hide-and-seek, and it's possible to relish the smells and sounds of a fishing village. Out of nowhere, a large, noisy group, possibly part of a photo trail, emerged from the opposite direction. They were clicking photos of residences on either side. Selfies by a wayside cross, or a resting labourer? Why not! The dozing resident feline wasn't spared. Disturbed residents looked alarmed by the invasion, but were too polite [or scared?] to stop this circus.

Come Christmas, and all of Bandra becomes a showcase, a window exhibit for walk organisers, Instagrammers and YouTubers. Khotachiwadi, the fragile pocket of history in Girgaon, isn't spared either. Matharpacady might go the same way, if its residents don't keep a close eye on this new-age nuisance factor.

Sure, it's a free world, and everyone has the right to earn a living, or click a selfie. All we are saying is to show respect and dignity, where households and private properties are concerned. Keep group sizes to single-digit numbers, ensure they strictly follow certain guidelines, seek prior permission from families, do recces and legwork so those homes which form part of the trail, aren't inconvenienced [unthinkable for our AI-fed heritage experts and historians!] on the said day. If similar guidelines can be followed in and around religious places, why not for such experiences as well?

Heritage neighbourhoods can be preserved and appreciated in equal measure. Else, its citizens will be left with no choice but to take matters into their own hands. Not the ideal way, we'd say, for residents to safeguard their privacy and local history.

mid-day's Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city's sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her. She tweets @bombayana
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