All of Mumbai’s memories and castaway possessions come to die at the Deonar garbage mountains. And among these vast, teetering piles of discarded things – medical waste, rotten food, old clothes, broken glass and twisted metal – a small, forgotten community lives and works. Scouring the dump for whatever can be resold or recycled, waste pickers also mark the familiar milestones of babies born, love found, illnesses suffered and recovered from. Like a mirror image, their stories are shaped by the influx of unwanted things from the world outside.
But now, as Deonar’s toxic halo becomes undeniable, a change is coming. And as officials try to close it, the lives that the pickers have built on the Mountain seem more fragile than ever.
In this episode of BIC Talks, author of Mountain Tales: Love and Loss in the Municipality of Castaway Belongings, Saumya Roy and V Ravichandar, full time champion of lost causes and hon. Director of Bangalore international centre, delve deep into the process of writing this powerful and delightful book about people who are trapped in the gravitational force of a garbage mountain in Mumbai centred around a deeply moving love story with unforgettable characters while also illuminating a country and a culture.