The Grand Makeover

As Mumbai's working-class locality Kamathipura readies for a revamp, its residents hope it will also erase their historic notoriety as a major hub of prostitution neighbourhood's 

- By DHAVAL KULKARNI

Much has changed in Kamathipura since the avant-garde Marathi poet and Dalit activist Namdeo Dhasal, a former resident of the area, wrote these lines in his collection of poetry published in 1981. But of course, like much of Mumbai, which was forged by waves of migration and reclamation, change has been a constant in Kamathipura. Now, it is in the throes of yet another change—the Maharashtra government has finally cleared the much-delayed project to redevelop this working-class neighbourhood of the teeming metropolis.

It was in the 18th century that the Telugu-speaking Kamathi’ workers from the dominions of the Nizam of Hyderabad migrated to Mumbai. They worked as construction labourers and settled on a marshy plot of land in south Mumbai. In 1804, the government reclaimed this land to house them and, thus, Kamathipura or the area of the Kamathis’ was born. These Kamathis also staffed Mumbai's textile mills, went on to integrate with the local Marathi culture and played a seminal role in the development and growth of Mahatma Jotiba Phule’s social reform society Satyashodhak Samaj, and the Samyukta Maharashtra’ movement that led to the creation of a separate Marathi-speaking state in 1960.

But, gradually, this area developed an unpalatable reputation of sorts due to the flesh trade operating out of some of its lanes. Mumbai's position as a port city and military centre, coupled with the high numbers of migrant workers, led to a rise in prostitution. In colonial-era Kamathipura, apart from Indian prostitutes, it was not uncommon to find European women engaged in the trade. Then, there were the Chinese residents, their social clubs and opium and gambling dens.