It's unbelievable yet true that a crowded city like Mumbai houses around 20,000 tribals, with the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (Borivli) and Aarey Dairy (Goregaon-East) having being their habitat for over five tribal generations. However, Goregaon (East) accounts for around 5,000 adivasis of Warli, Kokana, Mahadev and Katkari tribes in 27 padas (clusters) perched on a hill-top which has a tribal goddess temple and is surrounded by buffalo stables. For instance, the Khambacha pada, Ultan pada and Gavdevi pada are situated near Aarey colony's Picnic Point. These padas are, in fact, just about two-hour drive from Mumbai.

Authorities wonder how and why these tribals migrated. According to Thane district social workers,these adivasis must have come here in search of food. While no concrete proof is available, tribals like Ramchandra Barku Patil, 78, claim they have been here for over four decades now. With no definite source of employment, they cut and sell wood and grass to neighbouring stable owners for a living. While they know this is illegal, they aggressively defend it. Says Patil: "For ages, we have been closely related with forests. We really don't want to cut trees, but there's no other choice in the absence of any regular income source or job opportunity.

Retired from the State Water Supply department of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, and one-time forest guard, Ramchandra Patil provides an encyclopedia of this tribal pocket. Having not studied beyond Class III, Patil once managed a primary school also. He says: "During the British Raj, we were mainly engaged in agriculture, especially rice farming. However, very few families are now able to sustain on farming. With no alternative, we have to fall back ontrees."

Out of these 27 padas of this suburb, around 12 of them like Dongari, Charandev, Abhal and Jeevacha are quite remotely situated. Life here is not even remotely related to the city. No wonder, 12-year-old Sangeeta has never been to a school and she, with many other girls of her age, harbours the ambition of travelling in a local train. Surprisingly, 80 per cent of these tribals were given ration cards five years ago and they are on the electoral rolls of the constituency. "While we do vote for Ramesh Naik and Gajanan Kirtikar in every election, we see their faces only during the poll canvassing," says Shekhar Ravtya, a young unemployed tribal. Interestingly, Kirtikar recently found time for these adivasi during a surprise visit on the occasion of Diwali.

While ration cards and electoral cards are not new to them, they still crave for the basic necessity called water. Lakhama Ladkya Page of Khambacha pada narrates this problem with anger. "We are living near the Vihar lake which supplies water toMumbaiites. But we don't have any water connection ourself. Are we not human beings? If our government can give water, electricity, and other amenities to slum-dwellers, including to those who blatantly encroach public land, why can't we benefit from the same." Efforts were made by local Shiv Sena leaders to get them bore wells, but majority of the population has to walk three to four kilometre for water everyday."And during rains, it's practically impossible to walk for water and we have to get our daily supply from dirty ponds," Page rues, adding that how two months ago many children died of water-borne diseases. When the news of a likely epidemic was published in some newspapers, government woke up to it. Ministers and some officers from the State Tribal Development and Health departments visited some padas near the main road. They also visited some of the hospitalised tribals. However, the situation continues.

After the incident, minister of state (Tribal Development) Bhai Girkar ordered forstatistics of this pocket. Office of the Integrated Tribal Welfare surveyed the area on war footing and a detailed report was recently submitted to the ministry, in which Project Officer Neela Deshpande has recommended an Adivasi Ashramshala in Aarey Dairy for the upliftment of tribal students, considering poor literacy in the area.

Of the 5,140 tribals, the number of children account for 2,465, of which 1,716 are of school going age. Only four padas have `Balwadis' run by Swaram Trust. Children from the other 23 padas also depend on these `Balwadis'. Same is the case with primary and high school education. According to the report, every student walks around three to four km daily to reach the nearest primary school. Some students even take BEST buses to the city for their secondary school education. The inaccessibility of schools is one of the reasons for high dropout rate.

Cut off from Mumbai's razzle dazzle, the tribal youth of these padas often wonder about their future. AsPrakash Bhoir, a BMC employee, says: "When we come home every evening from the sparkling world of `your Mumbai', sad realities stare us in the face, especially the life without a fan or a closed toilet. May be that is our fate."