From inspiring Slumdog Millionaire to putting Asia’s largest slum on the global tourist map, Dharavi’s industry and enterprise have spawned a million dreams. But this industrial hub is the latest to be hit by the economic crisis. By Kavitha Iyer

Abdul Mannan, 30, does not understand what a credit crunch is or how remittances by his eight employees mould the village economy at home in Madhubani, Bihar. But what he knows intimately is a shame he can’t shake off. “Mein karzdaar hoon,” says the father of two who has never taken a bank loan in the 15 years he has spent in Dharavi. “And my creditors are my own eight employees.”

Mannan hasn’t actually borrowed from the youth working for him, but he sunk their last month’s salaries into uncertainty when he paid his Rs 5,000 rent for February and purchased rations and raw material for the current week. He will pay them if the Bhendi Bazaar store he supplies sequin-embroidered salwar kameez and ghagra choli pieces to places any fresh orders. “If their goods don’t sell, they won’t place orders. And orders have dried up for four months now.”

Will he send his men home if things don’t improve? “Forget my men. I will have to return,” he says.

From having inspired a Hollywood blockbuster to putting ‘Asia’s largest slum’ on the global tourist map; from its Fendi rip-offs that are “for export only” to its rags-to-riches tales, Dharavi’s famed industry and enterprise have spawned a million urban tales of dreams, gumption and bewildering successes. But inside the thumping, clanking and grinding that is the heart of this unlikely industrial hub, Dharavi’s newest story is that dhanda is manda—business has taken a serious hit.

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