In the 15 chapters of this book, a diverse group of writers explores the unique structure of the chawl, all the while considering a complicated and interwoven set of themes and questions. While many of these questions remain unanswered, we struggle with them because, at their heart, they are the questions of Mumbai itself. With vacant land being non-existent, the demolition of the chawls is going to redefine the skyline of south and central Mumbai. The chawls make up around 16,000 structures, located in the heart of Mumbai. Yet, for many of us these structures are unfamiliar, as the city of extremes is often understood through only its slums and its mansions. In this book we have tried to trace the past, present and future of the city, as told through and within the chawl. These conversations are meandering and circular, at times overlapping and repetitive. Like a walk through the chawl neighbourhoods themselves, each chapter leaves the impression. ‘Haven’t I walked down this lane before?’ This is both intentional and unavoidable. How is the chawl defined? What makes it unique among the various building typologies located throughout the city? How have cultural formations emerged through the constraints imposed by such limited living space? These are not easy questions to answer, but this multi-genre book, with the help of an assemblage of visuals – from floor plans, photographs and drawings – attempts to consider the ways in which the chawl emerges as a distinct symbol of the city of Mumbai, holding not only the history of the city’s transformation but also its unique social identity.
Table Of Contents
Foreword
Preface and Acknowledgements
Overview
Part One: History in Context
1. Salaries and Wages: Girgaon and Girangaon
2. The Making of a Working-Class, the Worli BDD Chawls (1920-40)
3. Chawls Overseas?
Part Two: Towards a Present
4. The Chronotope of the Chawl: A Ghost Story in Three Acts
5. Ganga Building Chronicles
6. Mill, Market, Milieu: redevelopment and Rights to the City
Part Three: The Space of the Chawl
7. The Terrain of Home, and within Urban Neighbourhoods (A Case of the Bombay Chawls)
8. Chalchitra/Chawlchitra: The Representative of Mumbai’s Chawls in Hindi Films Architectural Drawings Photographs
Part Four: Issues of Identity
9. After the Violence: How the Mumbai Riots Changed Life for Muslims in Chawls
10. The Flavor of Memory Still Holds Me: The Gujarati Chawl Experience
11. Inner spaces, Women’s Voices
Part Five: Personal Narratives
12. My Old Neighbourhoods
13. Siddharth Nagar Days
14. Marathi Manus in Girgaon
15. Girgaon via BDD Chawls
Contributors
