Kolis - Question of Cities

Seeing the unseen nature amidst Mumbai’s expanding concrete

A casualty of the build more approach is the erasure of precious natural wealth. Amidst the concrete maze of Mumbai-Navi Mumbai, there are still some treasures tucked away, as this photograph of flamingos shows. The Vihar Lake, the flora-fauna in…

Adivasis in cities: From people to paupers

A complex set of factors from displacement by huge development projects to landlessness and inadequate employment opportunities has pushed adivasis from their ecosystems in isolated lands and forests and into cities. Here, they provide services mostly in the informal sector…

Mumbai’s Kolis are living on the edge on their own turf

The Kolis, earliest inhabitants of the city when it was still an archipelago, have shaped the city. They helped landfill the sea waters between the islands and make the seven islands into a city. However, as the juggernaut of urbanisation…

Mumbai’s shiny new Coastal Road spells doom for the city’s Kolis

Lives and livelihoods of the oldest inhabitants of Mumbai, the Kolis, have been drastically affected ever since the Coastal Road construction began. The ongoing infrastructural work has not only altered the familiar coastline of the city but also the way…