A Mumbai story: 10 tenants, one room, many dreams

Salim stands between the sleeping bodies of two men on the floor of the room where they live as his father helps him get ready for school, straightening the dark tie of his school uniform.

A year ago, the eight-year-old made a 22-hour train journey from his village in Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai, the country's financial capital, known to migrants like him as "the City of Dreams".

He joined his 12-year-old brother, who migrated four years ago, and taxi-driver father Zameel in the room they share with other migrants from the same village in northern India - a typical home for many of the migrants who pour into the world's second most populous city every day.

"I came to Mumbai with lots of dreams - to earn money, to have a house. The city has given me a lot," said the 44-year-old Zameel, who drives a rented taxi for 12 hours each day.

"My children would not have gotten a city education back in the village. I hope they don't have to drive a taxi like me, I hope they sit in the back of the taxi. If they are able to do that, I will owe that too to Mumbai."

Image: Zameel, a 44-year-old migrant taxi driver, adjusts the tie of his son Salim, 8, as he prepares him for school inside their one room dwelling in a residential area in Mumbai.

Text and Images: Danish Siddiqui, Reuters