Pottery
and leather, we know, but 700 of Dharavi's families are behind 3,00,000 idlis feeding Mumbai's
appetite each day
It's 3.30
am, and Dharavi's 90 Feet Road is in no mood to wind down. The streetfood
stalls are ready to down shutters after Sehri, the last meal Muslims eat before
the break of fajr or dawn during the month of Ramzan. But for its 1,000-odd
idli makers, it's time to move.
The alleys that crisscross this 557-acre intricate
area, lined by 15x15 feet kholis, go from dark to glowing as tubelights flare
up in successive shanties. Inside, men who only use their first names - Chella,
Chinna, Murugan, Karpan — bow to a gigantic aluminium steamer, and light up
their stoves.
Between
500 to 700 families that live in over 60,000 structures, several of them
caboose-like, earn their living by making idlis and vadas, every South Indian's
staple breakfast. Each home whips up a minimum of 400 steaming, fluffy rice
cakes every day. A household with two or three men could take that number up to
1,000.
That's
nearly 3 lakh idlis leaving the
shantytown, wedged between Sion and Mahim, on trains along the Central, Western
and Harbour lines to satiate Mumbai's workforce.
This
community is easily recognised by what they carry on their heads — a large
aluminium vessel with idlis snuggled inside. Fastened to it with a fat
industrial-strength rubberband are smaller stainless steel containers carrying
coconut chutney and sambhar, a heap of paper plates, and an inimitable horn
that announces the idliwalla's arrival in a neighbourhood.
Credit: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-08-06/food-reviews/33064390_1_idlis-chutney-batter
Image credit: Cafe Idly.
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