Once a year, the bylanes of Dharavi provide the setting for a very special Tamil feast.
With a sizeable Tamil population, the harvest festival of Pongal is celebrated with much vigour and zest in Dharavi -- once known as Asia’s largest slum.
Following the traditional ways, women dressed in their finest came out on to streets to cook Chakkarai Pongal -- a dish of rice, jaggery and Bengal gram -- and soon the whole area was enveloped in the aromas of ghee-fried cashews, almonds and cardamom.
And as the ingredients of Chakkarai Pongal boil in milk, people called out ‘Pongalo Pongal, Pongalo Pongal’.
Viswanathan KA captures some of the celebrations.
