Ablaz Mohammed Schemnad

Student Reporter

Riya Behl

Editor

Binaifer Bharucha

Photo Editor

large_01-PXL_20221206_151920673-AMS-Dharavis_Bhim_celebrations.jpg

medium_01-PXL_20221206_151920673-AMS-Dharavis_Bhim_celebrations.jpg

small_01-PXL_20221206_151920673-AMS-Dharavis_Bhim_celebrations.jpg

thumbnail_01-PXL_20221206_151920673-AMS-Dharavis_Bhim_celebrations.jpg

01-PXL_20221206_151920673-AMS-Dharavis_Bhim_celebrations.jpg

The parai drum is sounded and the rally begins. A crowd of roughly 60 people shout out: “Jai Jai Jai Jai Bhim, Jai Ambedkar Jai Bhim.” This is the Mahaparinirvan rally in Dharavi, Mumbai, held every year on December 6 for Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s death anniversary. One by one, people light their candles and assemble in Dharavi’s Periyar chowk and suddenly this pocket of Asia’s largest slum in Mumbai city is alive with celebration. The Mahaparinirvan Diwas (anniversary of his passing) event has been organised by the Jai Bhim Foundation. The rally will go on for roughly two hours and will move from E.V. Ramaswamy (Periyar) Chowk to Ambedkar statue in the Ganeshan Kovil – a distance of roughly 1.5 kilometres. “Today is more like a festival for us. The whole of Mumbai city celebrates April 14 (Ambedkar’s birthday) and December 6, to remember the great leader and his contributions for the people discriminated against by caste,” says Vennila Suresh Kumar, one of the key members of the foundation along with her husband, Suresh Kumar Raju. “We decorated the route with blue flags and went door-to-door to invite people to come and join us.” She then goes to put a garland on the statue of Ambedkar – the only one in Dharavi, and later joins a group singing songs in Tamil, dedicated to the contributions of their leader.

Suresh works as a driver for a firm in north Mumbai. The 45-year-old works 14-hour shifts and earns a monthly salary of around Rs. 25,000. Vennila, 41, is a domestic worker who cooks and cleans at an apartment near Dharavi for six hours every day. She earns Rs. 15,000 a month for this work.The couple have two sons Karthik, 17, and Aran, 12, who study at private institutions in the city. “We too participate in the celebrations at other parts of the city like Chaityabhoomi in Dadar. It is mostly the <a></a><a></a><a></a>Parayan (also known as Parayar) community who follow Ambedkar and participate in the celebrations in Dharavi,” says Vennila.Vennila and Suresh are originally from Tamil Nadu and belong to the <a></a><a></a><a></a>Parayan community, listed as a Scheduled Caste in their home state. “My father came to Dharavi from Tirunelveli in 1965 searching for a job,” she says. The family migrated as they were not able to earn enough from agriculture due to the lack of irrigation and other issues. The couple play a key role in organising Ambedkarites in and around where they live in Dharavi. Suresh says that in 2012, he along with Raja Kutty Raju, Nithyanand Palani, Anil Santini and other members, “started organising collective celebrations in Dharavi on 14 April and 6 December to spread awareness and knowledge about Ambedkar and his contributions.”

When he is not driving, Suresh volunteers for the Jai Bhim Foundation. He says there were 20 members in 2012 and now there are 150. “Majority of our members are also migrants. They work as drivers and in the railways but join us for the rallies,” he says.Vennila studied till Class 9 when she dropped out to start earning. She says she learnt to speak English while working as a cook and in an office. In 2016, Venilla and some other women in the locality established a self-help group (SHG) called Magizhchi Magalir Peravai. “We women do not have many leisure activities to engage in here, so through this exclusive women’s collective, we conduct programs and go out to watch movies together.” During the lockdown, the SHG gave food, groceries, and small-scale financial support to people in Dharavi, supported by Vennila’s contacts. ‘Magizhchi’ is happiness in Tamil, she says smiling. “Women are always oppressed and feel depressed inside their houses. This is a space where we all feel happy talking to each other.”

Dharavi’s Bhim celebrations

دھاراوی میں جشن بھیم کی تقریبات

ਧਾਰਾਵੀ ਵਿਖੇ ਭੀਮ ਦੇ ਜਸ਼ਨ

ଧାରାବିର ଭୀମ ଉତ୍ସବ ପାଳନ

ധാരാവിയിലെ ഭീം ആഘോഷങ്ങൾ

ಧಾರಾವಿಯ ಭೀಮ್ ಆಚರಣೆಯ ಸಂಭ್ರಮ

धारावी में भीम उत्सव की धूम

ધારાવીમાં ભીમની ઉજવણી

धारावी मं भीम तिहार

धारावी: तमिल गीत आउर नारा के बीच भीम उत्सव

ধারাভির ভীম উৎসব

ধাৰাৱীত ভীম জয়ন্তী উদযাপন

தாராவியில் பீம் திருவிழா

Dharavi

At present, we can only accept donations in Indian rupees by Indian citizens. All donations made to the CounterMedia Trust are eligible for exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Here is a copy of our exemption certificate.


India is bigger than New Delhi. And people need to know more about the rest of this vast nation.


Younger, media-saturated generations are growing up knowing little about their country, but a lot about the elites of a few metros and towns. For a narrowly-owned, commercially-driven media, the dumbing down of a nation is part of standard operating procedure. The last available data of the Centre for Media Studies (CMS, Delhi) show us that reports from New Delhi account for 66 per cent of news on the front pages of major dailies. The CMS data also found that just about 0.24 per cent of front page news came out of rural India. The TV channels are not much better.PARI exists to change that.We are a non-profit organisation. We publish under creative commons, and do not charge readers a subscription fee or put-up advertisements. Nothing is behind a paywall and we are completely free-to-access by anyone. We guard our independence and receive no direct grants from governments and corporations, nor any funding that could dictate our content. So, we are dependent on volunteer labour, donations from individuals, foundations and institutions that see value in independent and free media.PARI is changing the way Indian journalism reports and documents the rural.India is more than the elite of a few metros and towns. We report on rural lives and livelihoods, languages, communities, migrants and more. We need your help to pull off this most ambitious of Indian journalistic endeavours. The scale of this effort costs money. Donate generously - and spread the word about PARI.&nbsp;

Donate FAQs


Let’s get you acquainted

Welcome to PARI

All our content is, and will forever be free to consume. If you enjoy our work, you can support us by becoming a volunteer or by donating to help fund our work.

Want to republish this article? Please write to <a href="mailto:zahra@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">zahra@ruralindiaonline.org</a> with a cc to <a href="mailto:namita@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">namita@ruralindiaonline.org</a>

Dharavi’s Bhim celebrations

In Dharavi, Mumbai, on Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s death anniversary, a group of Tamil residents come together to mark the day and spread awareness about his work and teachings

Related stories

A rain-scented walk in Sivagangai

Living on ravaged land

Biswas and the bamboos on his bike

Recycling energy, Godda style

Bhadels of Goa

Pookadai: still throbbing with morning life

Koli Kadlas

Malnourishment high among children of migrants: study

Wheels of the rural Indian West

Living Under a Red Cloud in Bellary

Vedla – earrings of the Maher community

Dreaming of water, drowning in debt

Kali: the dancer and his dreams

Farmer's diet worse than a convict's

In Yavatmal, life goes on

Suicides are about the living, not the dead

Death of a carpenter

Hoisa Shigmo!

Women farmers: weaving a life in Anantapur

Defiant in Dhinkia

Spice and all that's nice

Kerala's Green Army

The ‘jugaad’ not-a-mobile

Health as someone else's wealth

Calibrating in a Kudumbashree assembly unit