Abhyudaya Nagar: A hub of Social spaces

The built form and architecture is very crucial in human social behavior and Chalws (and old colonies) of Mumbai is a great example of it. Chawls :a popular dwelling typology always offered spaces for social congregation to its residents and so enhanced the community values which we cannot even imagine in High rise living. For me the Chawl culture is always an attractive aspect in city life and interesting topic to study. It has a great legacy and historical background which I have tried to trace through literature by various authors and interviewing few residents. The study revealed the fact that these spaces are not designed but socially constructed by people and that what makes it so intense as a 'social space'.   

The raw cotton trade and textile industry laid the economic foundation for commercial and industrial Bombay. Bombay‘s textile industry was established and it grew and flourished from the middle of the nineteenth century. The city‘s first cotton mill the Bombay Spinning Mills, was built in 1851 by Cowasji Nanabhai Davar, a parsi entrepreneur. (Neera Adarkar, Meena Menon) The textile industry occupied center stage in the growth of Mumbai and significantly influenced the economic, political and cultural character of the city. One of the unique characters of the growth of this industry is its spatial agglomeration overlapping with the neighborhood known as Girangaon (the village of the mills). (Neera Adarkar, Vidyadhar K Phatak, 2005)

India United Mills no. 2 & 3

Girangaon was a name commonly used to refer to an area now part of central Mumbai, India, which at one time had almost 130 textile mills, with the majority being cotton mills. The mills of Girangaon contributed significantly to the prosperity and growth of Mumbai during the later nineteenth century and for the transformation of Mumbai into a major industrial metropolis. Girangaon covered an area of 600 acres (2.4 km2). The mill workers lived in a community, and they fostered a unique culture which shaped Mumbai at the turn of the twentieth century.

Mumbai is a metropolis with exponential population growth, with scarce space which is leading to undue commercial exploitation of built environment. Along with this modernization observed in the building industry, there still exists a housing typology known as ―"Chawls" – a medium density mass housing. Chawls have deeply rooted their community culture in Mumbai‘s history over the past century. (Amol Rane, Saurabh Barde, 2012)

'Chawl‘ or 'Chaal‘—the literal meaning possibly being a kind of walk/passageway,— has given, the contributors argue, a unique identity to this system of housing, originating in the rapid industrialization of 19th century colonial Bombay. Chawl residents have had to share common corridors, common walls and toilets. Yet, precisely because private and public spaces are blurred, they have traditionally shared common ―food, festivals, friendships, weddings, funerals, homework, and 'corridor cricket‘. (Adarkar)

The study area chosen for the topic is Abhyudayanagar premises in Kalachowki. Kalachowki is a big residential area consisting of a colony called Abhyudaya Nagar which has 43 MHADA-built (Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority) housing, intended those who worked in the textile mills in the area. The Cotton Green railway station caters to the area called Kalachowki, Ferbandar and Ghodapdeo. According to the residents, congregation spaces in their premises are very important in their day to day life as they spend most of the time in these spaces. These spaces are placed in such a way that everyone goes through it while going out or coming home and not simply avoidable. Mr.Rane, one of the oldest residents states that visiting these places is his routine and it relieves stress. It allows the social interaction and assembly for many social causes which make chawls 'live‘.

Adarkar states that, this built typology, social and cultural space even encouraged political movements to emerge from chawls. It can be noted that the chawl dwellers have an uncommon attachment towards the built space they occupy. Adarkar also mentions that some areas in the chawls were breeding ground for social and cultural integration. The various common areas especially the central courtyards and the common balconies become epicenter of communal activities and recreation. It can be noted that the buildings sitting is such that the courtyard is always the hub of all social gatherings and functions. 

Amol Rane & Saurabh Barde describes the other fundamental architectural elements of a typical chawl for their physical existence and functional responses by the occupants.

Gulley/By-lane with shops.

Gully / By-lane: - A narrow street besides the chawls also forms integral part of the chawl community. These are the connectors between two chawls. It can be noted that the Gulllies have shops, laundries, flour-mill etc. which can be associated with basic amenities of users. It is also observed that the shops are run by the locals as a source of second income.

Placement & Hierarchy of
Congregation spaces in chawls. Source:Author

Chowk:- A central point or cross sections formed between gullies and the main arterial roads, serves as a most important social interaction point. The whole neighborhood can be linked to the activities associated with this node. It is observed that such the junctions accommodate the pass way for an access to the local transportation, important amenities like post offices and clinics and community centers. These junctions can be noted to be one of the most important elements associated with historic movements by socialists.

Chowk

Nukkad - It is a term used for less prominent junction which hosts connection of smaller gullies. It is found that these street corners generally having a tea-stall along with newspaper stand or sit out spaces created under a tree. This is associated to a common recreational niche between the chawls commonly reffered as Naka. Naka’s being the common meeting place, the local liquor shop (taadi-maadi vikri kendra) or gymnasium became important points.

Naka having Vachanalaya.

Mandir (Place of Worship):- This forms an important part of the native community. A religious segregation can be noted in the chawl development. A place of worship can be found at a prominent place and centrally located which allows ease of its use. Such areas are suitable background for celebrating festivals and cultural functions.

  

Mandir in the courtyard and near community areas.

The various surveys indicate that chawls dwellers have psychologically extended their concept of a housing unit. As a result the occupied areas and activities of the users are not only restricted to the unit which they own but it expands further in the semi-public and public areas around the chawls. These semi-public areas include the immediate adjacent verandahs on ground floor and balconies on upper floors. Courtyards also help in fulfilling the daily needs of users along with the public areas like nukkads, chowks and places of worship. Even due to the overcrowding, the distinction between home and street was blurred; Girangaon residents spent more of their time on the street than in the home. Due to this there was great participation in communal festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi and Gokulashtami.

Naka‘s are not only good space for physical communication but also for virtual communication. The small yellow kiosks at the corners of each naka have interesting stories. "We used to stay in queue for hours just to make one call. People had no phones at their homes. Thus, these small stalls were the only source fast contact.", said Mr.Pawar, an old resident of Abhyudaya nagar. "Many of our relatives used to call us on shop‘s number and the shopkeeper used to inform us each time.‘‘, he mentioned. These communication centers still exist, but not only with telephones today. These shops became mobile phone recharge point, photocopy centre or small general store these days.

  

Communication Centres

The nature of the space in the chawls was highly responsible for the interactive nature of the social fabric of the chawls. The graph derived through the survey of chawl dwellers to understand their response to the built environment around; shows that the fundamental areas commonly identified in chawl typology are vibrant throughout day as well as night in some cases. It can be noticed that the verandahs, balconies and the courtyards are most occupied and used spaces by the dwellers.

   

Photograph showing the resident
using the verandah
for  reading newspaper.
Source: (Parkar, 2014)

Verandahs and balconies are being utilized as physical extension of the individual unit. Young men and some senior citizens even used these as card playing space at afternoon and sleeping area at night. It was also observed that the dwellers utilize this very element for their visual and verbal communication to their neighbors as well as the outsiders. For Neera Adarkar the most vibrant space in the chawls being corridors , with their ―''laundry lines of …nine yard saris,…medicinal tulsi plants …in Dalda tins,…a few left-over lanterns from the previous Diwali.'' (Adarkar)

Similarly courtyards show various occupancy patterns during a course of a day, being playgrounds for children in mornings and evenings it also caters household activities as well as small scale industries run by group of housewives in the afternoon time. The courtyards of the chawls are observed to be phenomenal element where human occurrence with social interaction is prominent and give sense of social harmony in the community. It forms a very significant parts of the chawl complexes from a social as well as spatial point-of-view.

 

Seating area along the central
open space.

 

Identified percentage of occupancy
in basic chawl elements throughout
the course of a day.
(source: Amol Rane, Saurabh Barde)

The percentage of occupancy varied in gullies, nukkads, chowks and worship areas. The functions and utilities that these areas served to the users formed their connection to daily lifestyle of the occupants. The study revealed that the chawls may appear to be just an average set of buildings but are often more complex and observed to have intense social binding. The success of sustainable living of communities in chawls lies in the social interaction and sharing which has been imbibed over a period of time. The study area being the most prominent place with the legacy of the mill and chawl culture, various spaces and complex structure of working of these spaces can be clearly observed. In Abhyudayanagar, the central large open space becomes the focus point of the area. This multipurpose space is majorly use by almost every individual despite of their age. There are total 5 schools in the premises, thus this open space is used by many school children as well as many residents as playground. It also has seatings along the edges making the it most active place in the premises. The large stage at the one corner helps to convert this play ground to the larger congregation space. Various Vachanalayas (Reading areas), Jyeshta Nagrik Bhavan (old age centers), Vyayamshalas (Gyms) & small Mandirs (Temples) spreaded across the area make it more vibrant.

Jyeshta Nagrik Bhavan.

 

Abhyudayanagar Sarvajanik
Ganeshotsav Mandal.

Vyayamshala  

Central large Playground..

Neera Adarkar & Vidyadhar K Phatak further explains the importance of congregation spaces in chawls through a survey conducted by the labor office in 1925 which revealed that 90 percent of the mill workers lived within a 15-minute walk from their place of employment. This physical proximity to the workplace increased the involvement of the workers and the community atlarge in trade union activities as well as in larger political movements like the independence struggle and the Samyukta Maharashtra movement (for the linguistic state of Maharashtra). A rich network of physical and social infrastructure evolved in Girangaon, spread over the centrally located 25sq km of Lalbaug, Parel, Sewri and Byculla areas, due to an integrated community environment. Two major arterial roads of the city, three different local railway stations, four major public hospitals and many educational, community cultural and social institutions along with small and medium sized "Maidans" with "Vyayamshalas"(gyms) and community halls completed the physical infrastructure. Social institutions like "Gaonkari mandals" (village committees), chawl committees, "Khanavals"(dining spaces run by women in their one room tenements for migrant male workers), "Bhajan mandal" and "Ganesh mandals", all went a long way in making Girangaon a unique example of organically evolved mixed-use development. This social connectivity helped to form trade unions and labor organizations which acted as a body for the protection of the workers from various issues like low wages, inhuman working hours and exploitative working conditions through strikes.

Abhyudaya sports and
welfare association.

 

Shivsena Shakha.

Mr.Gurav, a worker from one of the oldest shops in the premises shared the memories about the Kalachowki naka. Shravan Yashvant chowk commonly referred as 'Kalachowki Naka‘ which is one of the busiest junctions in this area. It is just outside the India united mills no. 2 & 3 and has many shops and eating joints along it but Bharat hotel was the favorite place for many mill workers. They used to visit it regulatly for a cup of tea with lot of gossips. In 1957 Abhyudaya nagar built & allotment done till 1960 but this naka & hotel are much older.

Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik
Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti.

According to Priyanka Karandikar social support networks and mixed uses within a neighborhood are critical in lives of residents. For example, Jane Jacobs‘ book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, where she mentions that social network and diversity in neighborhood are the key features for a city to sustain itself. The combination of all common areas like courtyards, corridors, staircases and so on provide ample scope for social interaction in these cohesive chawl communities. This social network is the support system of the residents and needs to be maintained. This dense social network is one of the main reasons why the residents have not moved out of the chawls.

The dense social network is very important to the residents of a neighborhood as especially in urban areas, because the inter-dependency and close-knit relations with neighbors make the lives of the residents easier. Alexandra Curley in article Relocating The Poor: Social Capital and Neighborhood Resources says that research has shown that social networks often play an important role in the development of people in life and that neighborhood of residence can shape these networks. Although she talks with reference to the 'low-income‘ group, it can be true in general, irrespective of the income group. Author concludes more housing with qualities like those of the chawls needs to be provided for the middle classes in urban areas like Mumbai to accommodate more people and offer them a rich culture and social life that can be sustained over time. More of such communities would create more diversity as different people would have different customs, traditions and living patterns. (Karandikar, 2010)

Sharmila Ganesan, in her article "The chawl-to-flat trauma," makes a note of a family who moved from a chawl to a flat. The mother states that she misses the evening chats with other women in the corridor. The reporter however also makes a note of a similar family where the man thinks the opposite. He says that a person is automatically respected if he lives in a flat and not a chawl. 

The chawls would accommodate a large number of people from the middle class, thus reducing the demand for affordable housing in Mumbai. According to Jane Jacobs, it is the key for a city to sustain itself. From a socio-economical view, Saskia Sassen explains that it is very important to retain the middle classes in a city as more money circulates within the city than the rich who invest their money either outside the city or even outside the country.

Many of the residents agree that the scenario has changed today. Gurudatta Vakdekar, born and brought up in Abhyudayanagar explains the transformation of these spaces. According to him, it was more active & vibrant before, people had no other sources of entertainment like today. They used to sit, play cards or carom & chit-chat after dinner before sleeping. Today, people are busy with so many things. Children prefer to watch T.V. or access internet rather than going out. Courtyards & streets are full of vehicles where he used to play earlier throughout the day, he added.

Bibliography:

Adarkar, N. (n.d.). The Chawls of Mumbai: Galleries of Life.

Amol Rane, Saurabh Barde. (2012, 11). Chawls in Mumbai:An inherent idiom of sustainable community, architecture and lifestyle.

Karandikar, P. (2010). Chawls: Analysis of a middle class housing type in Mumbai, India.

Neera Adarkar, Meena Menon. (n.d.). One Hundred Yeras One Hundred Voices, The Millworkers Of Girangaon:An Oral History.

Neera Adarkar, Vidyadhar K Phatak. (2005, 12 17). Recycling mill land: Tumultous experience of Mumbai. pp. 5365-5368.

Parkar, N. D. (2014). RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NEIGHBOURHOOD SOCIAL CAPITAL AND BUILT FORM- EXPLORED THROUGH THE CHAWLS OF MUMBAI.

Photographs- Soumya Salini & Amol Parab