Dharavi is considered to be among the largest impoverished urban dwelling areas in the world. Located in Mumbai, India, Dharavi is a low-income suburb that is very densely populated, with an estimated one million residents. The area once belonged to the Koli fishing community which used the Mahim Creek as a source of livelihood. During British colonization, the area underwent extensive growth. Several industries and labor forces moved to Bombay, as Mumbai was called prior to 1995. These included tanners, potters, embroidery workers, and other artisans. According to a Mumbai governmental website, "The growth of Dharavi is closely interwoven with the pattern of migration into Bombay...Mumbai being the commercial capital of the country with unlimited opportunity for employment attracted people from all parts of the country, irrespective of region, caste, religion." Today, Dharavi is known as "leather paradise" and is famous for its leather market. Its active and informal economy has an annual turnover of about a billion US dollars by some estimates.
There have been several attempts to develop Dharavi, but many residents oppose these attempts. Small business owners fear the effects that development could have on their lives and livelihoods. This ties into a greater conflict concerning the ways in which governments and outsiders (such as NGOs and independent developers) interact with these marginalized communities around the world. Imtiaz Dharker has stated that her poem "Blessing" is about a scene she witnessed in Mumbai on her way to work. However, the setting in the poem is not specified, which makes it applicable to many impoverished urban dwellings.
