How the richest pay Rs 15,000 for gareebi darshan in Dharavi

In Mumbai's Dharavi, poverty is being curated, priced and sold to dollar-rich visitors. Slum tourism has been around in India for decades, but there is a thin line between giving context, and commodification. Both rich Mumbaikars and poor Dharavi residents are making money, charging Rs 15,000 per foreign tourist for gareebi darshan.

In the city of dreams, there is sufficient magic. Enough to sell even its gutters. Gutters, they say, are also of gold. In India, poverty is a commodity, and Mumbai is perhaps where it sells for the highest price. It is no secret that the poor in India are fetishised for "exposure" and "education", not only by white visitors, but also by the sophisticated domestic elites of Peddar Road and Malabar Hill. In Dharavi, one of world's biggest slums, the phenomenon is the most visible. During a recent visit to the shanty town in the heart of Mumbai, one of the most shocking sights was poverty being sold to the elite, for Rs 15,000 for two hours.

As India Today Digital interviewed a plumber, Raju Hanumanta, and his neighbour and an idli seller, Shanappa, in the bylanes of Dharavi, a group of foreigners appeared in a place where you would least expect them. They were accompanied by a "guide".

Remember, there are bylanes in Dharavi where even regular Mumbaikars hesitate to wander. These lanes are in the underbellies of Mumbai, places once associated with crime bosses like Varadarajan Mudaliar, whose punters are no longer associated with extortion and bloodshed, but businesses now deemed "white". Real estate, and everything tied to land, to drugs. The methods might have changed, but the instincts haven't, say experts like author and former investigative journalist S Hussain Zaidi, who knows Mumbai's underbelly inside out. But that shadow economy is a separate story. The trade of poverty is what we'll talk about here.

Poverty, especially in India, sells like hot cakes, and in Dharavi's billion-dollar economy, it is a facet we hadn't thought of.

The man leading the foreigners was a local, Omkar Dhamale. When asked what he charged for the slum tour, he replied, "Per person, Rs 15,000." There were five foreigners with him. For a two-hour walk through the slums, he would earn Rs 75,000.

This is not a new phenomenon. India Today Magazine reported on poverty tourism across India in 2006. But something has shifted. Earlier, such tours were run by organised walking groups with trained guides. Now, the business is being taken up by Dharavikars themselves — and at rates that match a corporate salary.