Chamda Bazaar stands strong as one of the old communities in Dharavi with a population of around one lakh. It has history that dates back to the British era. Most people currently residing in this area have migrated from the northern parts of India. Many muslims who belong to different castes like Ansari, Sheikh, Pathan, Sayyad etc also reside here.
The main occupation in Chamda Bazaar involves salting leather/hide and making leather products. Chamda bazaar is one of the biggest sources of leather and leather products in Mumbai city. Some other occupations in this community are tailoring, making garments and weaving carpets. Some of the youth in the area have also moved away from conventional family occupations to technical occupations like mechanics, fitters etc.
Women in this community do not come in contact with the outside world and are only required to look after their families and most muslim families in Chamda bazaar insist that their women wear a veil to keep her safe from prying eyes of strangers. Some women do odd jobs like cutting thread, sewing buttons and some other part-time jobs from home for garment industry in Dharavi.
The Chamda Bazaar community celebrates Id-ul-fitr or Ramzaa-Id during this festival the muslim community in Chamda Bazaar eat food early in the morning before their first namaaz of the day, they fast through the rest of the day and then eat only after the evening namaaz, thus breaking their fast. This period of fasting during Ramzaan is called roza . The roza is meant to understand the plight of the hungry and gather strength to face the same. On the last day of Ramzaan they cook sewai korma and generously serve it to all without discriminating between the rich or the poor .
The other festival celebrated is Bakri -Id. The legends goes that Allah asked his messenger Mohammad Paigambar to part with his most favourite thing in the world, and his messenger decided to sacrifice his son Mohammad. He then shut his eyes to prevent his hands from trembling while slitting his sons’ throat and thus sacrificing his son for Allah. As a part of this tradition, Muslims from Chamda bazaar sacrifice a goat in memory of this great legend. In most parts of Chamda Bazaar locals come together and make a single sacrifice and celebrate the tradition together.
Similar to most communities in Dharavi, residents of Chamda bazaar also have dismal public amenities and facilities. Garbage is collected once in a week and the drainage systems are not functional. There are water pipes but the pressure of the water is very low. These pipes were laid during the British era and frequent leakages mean waste of good drinking water.
