A walk through Latur Galli in Mumbai’s Dharavi is not for the faint-hearted. The passage to Basavraj Swami’s 70 square feet home involves ducking iron beams, sidestepping covered drains disguised as walkways and navigating alleys barely wide enough for a single person. Swami, 58, lives here with eight family members, packed like pieces of a puzzle into a room with no ventilation. At night, he sleeps under the bed, while his daughter, Swanandi, nods off on top of it. His elderly mother stretches across a mat on the floor. Other family members scale narrow metal ladders to reach tiny lofts, while the main door remains tightly shut mainly to keep out the rats.
