Bangalore's urban slums

It's obviously been an eye-opening experience to see how people function day to day in Bangalore's urban slums. Thought I'd share with you some more information and additional photos taken whilst out in the community.

2001 census indicated that there are over 40 million people living in urban slums in India. It is estimated that there are at least 400,000 slum dwellers in Bangalore alone (population 8.5m). The slums that are part of the Pollinate community all have slightly different characteristics.  On average, the communities have around 30-40 tents, so more than 100 people. However some are much larger and some are smaller. The people living in the communities often differs as well - some are cleaners living in slums closer to the centre of the city, some are construction workers.

One of the urban slums we visited

Pollinate has come up with 'code names' for each of the communities. For example, "Drum" is the community where the inhabitants make drums for sale to tourists. "Bangle" is where they make bangles. "Farm" is where there is literally a farm as well as a slum community....

"Farm" community

All makes sense right!?
So, imagine my reaction when we turned up at "Cobra"!!

A cobra nest at "Cobra" community. It is also a place of worship for Hindus

The other thing that I found quite fascinating was the construction of the tents themselves. The materials used were all recycled, mainly tarps/plastic type materials or plastic/hesham type materials from construction sites where they work.

A tent up close

Inside a tent

Example of the materials used/recycled!
- chickpeas from Australia!?

The tents are obviously open to all of the elements and given the monsoonal rains that occur, they are quite exposed at times! Consequently, it is not unusual for households to have to rebuild their tents after a large rain.

A family rebuilding their tent after the rain

Tent in construction (notice all of the black from the soot!)

Some other interesting things I've seen whilst in the community:

Bassinet, Indian Style!

Certainly the strangest thing I've seen so far! - considered lucky!!