Dharavi

Dharavi is a locality in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It houses one of the largest slums in the world.

Dharavi slum was founded in 1882 during the British colonial era. The slum grew in part because of an expulsion of factories and residents from the peninsular city centre by the colonial government, and from rural poor migrating into urban Mumbai (then called Bombay). It is currently a multi-religious, multi-ethnic, diverse settlement. Estimates of Dharavi's total population vary between 700,000 to about 1 million.

Dharavi has an active informal economy in which numerous household enterprises employ many of the slum residents. It exports goods around the world. Leather, textiles and pottery products are among the goods made inside Dharavi by the slum residents. The total annual turnover has been estimated at over US$500 million.

Dharavi has suffered from many epidemics and other disasters. It currently covers an area of 217 hectares (535 acres).

History

In the 18th century, Dharavi was an island with predominantly mangrove swamp .Daravi is a historical spelling of the area. It was a sparsely populated village before the late 19th century, inhabited by Koli fishermen. Dharavi was then referred to as the village of Koliwadas.

Kevin McCloud

Kevin McCloud MBE (born 8 May 1959) is a British designer, writer and television presenter best known for his work on the Channel 4 series Grand Designs, which he has presented since its debut in April 1999 and his residential housing development company HAB Housing.

Early life

Born in Bedfordshire, McCloud and his two brothers, Terence and Graham, were raised in a house his parents had built. His father, Donald, was a rocket scientist and McCloud credits his compulsion for craftsmanship, functionality and slick engineering to him. McCloud attended Dunstable Grammar School, which became Ashton Middle School, and then studied the history of art and architecture at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the Footlights comedy ensemble alongside Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.

Designer

After graduating, McCloud trained and worked as a theatre designer, then set up his own lighting design practice and manufacturing business 'McCloud Lighting' – at one point employing 26 people. His work includes the carved and painted rococo-style vegetable ceiling in the food halls at Harrods, many projects in conjunction with J.J. Desmond Interiors and lighting fittings at Ely Cathedral, Edinburgh Castle, the Savoy Hotel and the Dorchester Hotel. Today he concentrates on television work, journalism and product design, including work for British manufacturers.

Amitabh Bachchan

Amitabh Harivansh Bachchan (IPA: [əmɪˈtaːbʱ ˈbəttʃən]; born 11 October 1942) is an Indian film actor. He first gained popularity in the early 1970s for movies like Zanjeer and Deewar, and was dubbed India's first "angry young man" for his on-screen roles in Bollywood. Often referred to in the media as the "Shahenshah of Bollywood", "Star of the Millennium" or "Big B", he has since appeared in over 180 Indian films in a career spanning more than four decades. Bachchan is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of Indian cinema. So total was his dominance of the movie scene in the 1970s and 1980s that the French director François Truffaut called him a "one-man industry."

Bachchan has won numerous accolades in his career, including three National Film Awards as Best Actor and many awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies. He has won 15 Filmfare Awards and is the most-nominated performer in any major acting category at Filmfare, with 40 nominations overall. In addition to acting, Bachchan has worked as a playback singer, film producer and television presenter. He also had a stint in politics in the 1980s.