Once again, Dharavi is the talk of Tamil Nadu. Thanks to Vijay’s new movie, Thalaivaa that is set in the Mumbai slum and whose protagonist is a character inspired by a late Tamil leader who lived there.
But did you know that Dharavi, a slice of Tamil Nadu in the heart of Mumbai, still keeps alive the Tamil culture, language and traditions? Makizhnan (29), who was born and brought up in Dharavi and is now settled in Chennai with his family, tells us how the bustling slum is a little Tamil Nadu though located in another state.
In fact, when Makizhnan came to Chennai two years ago, he was shocked at the way Tamil was spoken here. He feels that the language was spoken in a better form in Dharavi.“I can speak better Tamil than anyone across Tamil Nadu,” he proudly says.
Currently working in the production unit of a media firm, Makizhnan is also an accomplished Tamil writer and speaker. He has written articles about the lifestyle in Dharavi, apart from being an activist. He recounts how he, along with three other friends had succeeded in bringing 50,000 Tamilians across Maharashtra to form a human chain, as a protest against the genocide in Sri Lanka. “I studied in Kamaraj Memorial High School where I got to learn Tamil apart from Hindi, English and Marathi,” explains Makizhnan. When it comes to Tamil medium, there is only one school in Dharavi – Kamban high school, which has 40 students giving their public exam in tenth. However, according to him, it is not the schooling, but the books by Periyar and Ambedkar which nurtured in him the affinity towards Tamil literature.
The Tamil tradition, according to him, is kept alive by people who still have strong Tamil sentiments. “The streets are narrow, but we still manage to put kolam in the limited space during festivals,” he recalls. Not just the kolams, Makizhnan says that the “‘Tamizhan’ within them stays wherever they are” – the men wear lungis at home, and the women wear davani and jasmine flowers during occasions. Unlike the staple chapathis which Marathis have, the Tamils stick to their sambar, rasam, thayir, idli and idiappams, with beef during the weekends. Be it the Tirupathi laddoo, the Tirunelveli halwa or Kolli herbs, there will be a shop in Dharavi that sells it, he says.
“In fact idli-selling is a thriving business there,” says Makizhnan. Explaining the business prototype, he says, several families have women making around 200 idlis each, which the men sell in the city.
Talk about festivals, and Makizhnan has stories galore. “Last year, during Pongal, we organised 365 matkas,” he says, referring to the pots in which pongal is prepared. He and his group of friends, had invited Tamilians from across Dharavi to come and participate in the one-day celebration. What about Mattu pongal and Kanum pongal? “No, there is no madu in that part of the city to celebrate all that,” he snaps.
While pongal is the only Tamil festival which they celebrate, there are other North Indian festivals, to which often Tamil flavour will be infused through Karagatam, Oyilattam, and Koravan Korathi dance troups called from Tamil Nadu. This, he says, happens especially for the nine-day celebration of Ganesh Chathurthi. It’s that time of the year when the streets get noisy with the kutcheri groups singing top Tamil songs of the season, while they march the Ganesha idol, one that is made separately for the Tamil community there.
The same applies for the weddings, which happen in either of the Mariamman, Sudalai madan, Karupu Sami or Ganapathi temples there. “It happens in complete Tamil style with local nadaswaram groups playing a role in it,” he says.
“These festivals are not brought to limelight. No one shows how content we are. None shows our celebrations,” Makizhnan says, referring to the “grossly wrong picture” of Dharavi portrayed in Slumdog Millionnaire. He says that in spite of the slum being a perpetual shooting spot, till now, no one has contributed to its upliftment. “Probably, it’s because they want it to remain this way for further shooting,” he remarks in his sarcastic tone.
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