Diwali Decorations
This chawl, normally adorned only by draying clothes, takes a new look during the Diwali, the Festival of Lights…it is adorned by beautiful lanterns in front of each tenement.....

In the past these women helped their families by running a “Khanawal” a home enterprise. They cooked for those mill workers who were living alone in the chawls. Today with closing of the mills these women end up providing food to strangers on the road side….

Playmates & Friends
Girangaonkars brought along with them their indigenous cultures from everywhere. This decorated bull, a integral of part of their life in the village, visits Girangaon once a year… helping them to take a nostalgic trip down the memory lane…

Chawls
The area in which the workers and their families settled, were close to the mills. Together they came to be known as Girangaon, the Village of the Mills.
Due to housing demands from the milk workers, the Bombay Development District (BDD) and Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT) built rows of low cost houses in Girangaon. These 1-2 stories high, single room tenements with a common narrow corridor, and a block of shared toilets situated at the end of the corridor came to be known as “Chawls”.
A group of 3 to 4 Chawl buildings were usually built around a central courtyard which served as an open space for sports, family celebrations, weddings and festivals. This congested tenement living created a “Chawl Culture” based upon a unique, shared lifestyle and collective identity. Today it is being replaced by the “Mall Culture”

Powada, Local Art Form

Note: We have full perfomances of these art forms. If you want to see these perfomances then contact to PUKAR office.

Naman, Local Art Form

Bhoot Bangala (Ghost Bungalow)
The actual name of Bhoot Bangala is Chhapara Chawl. The reason it has taken on the colloquial term of Bhoot Bangala is because the chawl has been abandoned for the last 20 years. The chawl was sold to a builder for redevelopment however, things went wrong and the builder and owner of the chawl are now disputing the matter in court.

Ghodapdeo Temple
Ghodapdeo is the name of a God. The story goes… A man named Borkar had a dream where God told him to search for him in that area. After searching, he built a temple in the place where the temple stands. At that time, the sea would come right up to the point of the temple and sea water would enter the temple area. Even today, after much reclamation of the land, sea water still enters the temple through a small drainage like arch made at the bottom of the structure. Sea water enters only during the monsoons at high tide. The reason the caretakers know it is water from the sea is that along with the water, small crabs are also seen emerging from the arch.
Till today, 6 generations later, the temple is run and managed by the same Borkar family. Most people say that the stone which is the statue of Ghodapdeo looks like the map of India. The temple’s festival is celebrated every year in the month of February.

Mirchi Gulli (Chilly Lane)
The stalls in this vibrant lane can be traced as far back as 1938. The lane is famous for its masalas, spices, chillies. One might go looking through the whole of Mumbai and not find anything like this lane.
The masala’s are not just sold here but also made here. The people who make and sell them belong to the Maratha Caste. Mirchi Gulli is what it is today because of the mill workers and their families. It is because of their patronage and demand for community specific masala’s, Mirchi Gulli has obtained immense recognition as one of the culinary markets of Mumbai.

Chivda Gulli
Chivda is a spicy-sweet snack usually made out of flattened rice (poha) or puffed rice (kurmurra) with a lot of peanuts, raisins, dried coconut bits and other ingredients. Chivda Gulli has been in existence since 1969. The lane caters to all, providing the city with an array of chivda. The chivda is made and sold here. It serves as a supplier to the bigger stores around the city, being one of two suppliers. The other being located in Dharavi.

Hanuman Theatre
Hanuman Theatre started around the 1920’s-30’s by the present owners (Madhukar Nirade) Grandfather along with his friend. The theatre was not started to screen movies but for stage performances. Around that time, there was no platform for Marathi folk plays and dramas. The theatre at the time was an open air theatre which was necessary for the folk art.
Since 1994, the theatre has been closed to cultural events due to the lack of performances by local artists and the shutting of mills. The space has been converted into a venue for weddings and such other events. The charges for the space are still minimally priced.

Meghawadi
Meghawadi, the name of an area in Girangaon has been in existence for the last 100 years. The two places of interest in this area are the Mhasoba temple and Bhajicha Mala (Vegetable Farm). The land on which both these places exist is now being contended by the local residents and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
The lease on which the farm land was taken, was a 99 year lease which has now ended. The BMC would now like to use the land to make way for a luxury apartment building by selling it to a private builder. The local residents however, would like to have the land developed into a public playground and park, considering Mumbai is so starved of open public spaces. No action has been taken in regards to this redevelopment as this issue is fairly new. But the resistance of the local residents is strong and filing of a court case is inevitable.
Mhasoba is the name of a God of the Meghawadi area which the local residents worship. They believe that Mhasoba grants all their prayers and wishes. They also believe that at night he roams the area protecting them.

Bharat Mata Theatre
The theatre opened in the year 1932 and is situated in the heart of the mill area, the mill closest to it being India Untied Mill No. 1. The owner of the theatre started it with an intention to cater to the mill workers and their families. The theatre ensured a form of entertainment for the mill workers at very reasonable prices when other forms of entertainment were not available. Even today, with burgeoning multiplexes across the city and exclusive movie theatres becoming the “in’ thing, Bharat Mata Theatre still offers the public entertainment at cost of 13 to 50 rupees.

India United Mill No.1
India United Mill No.1 is one of the mills that shut down recently in February this year. It has no units functioning except some clerical staff. Dainik Bhaskar, a Hindi newspaper now occupies half the area with its offices.
The mill in its heydays employed approximately 3000 workers per shift and had a total of 3 shifts. The “Morarji Gokuldas Textile Mill” which was right opposite, employed another 2000-3000 workers per shift. The magnitude of employment in that area alone of just these two mills was massive.

Bombay evolved from being a set of seven islands and a dispersion of fishing villages to the cosmopolitan city it is today. The origins of the city can be traced back to the 15th century when the Portuguese arrived in India to capture what they called “Bom Bahia” (the Good Bay). The land was passed to the British Crown as part of the dowry of the marriage of Portuguese princess Catherine Braganza and Prince Charles II in1661.
The history of Bombay recounts its growth from being a marshy land to a strategic trading port to a manufacturing center and now in its present state, the commercial and financial hub of India.
Bombay became famous for its cotton textile industry during the 19th century, with the first cotton mill set up in 1856. This was mainly due to the Industrial Revolution of the west. The era brought with it new sources of power and modern technology. The planners at the time envisioned the textile boom to continue for centuries and so former traders seized the opportunity of the generous incentives being offered by the government (minimal lease rents for massive acreages of land) and set up textile mills in central Bombay.
People from villages across the state of Maharashtra came to the city to escape oppression and inequality. Some came just to explore new options. A bulk of the work force however, were people from drought stricken areas of Satara, Kolaba and Ratnagiri. (Dwivedi, Mehrotra, Bombay: The Cities Within, 2002)
The mill owners went to great lengths to set up their units from employing the best architects of the time to enticing workers with cheap housing accommodation. As the workforce grew, the demand for housing also increased.

The structure used to house mill workers came to be known as Chawls. Chawls were usually constructed 2 to 3 stories high and had single rooms with lofts. The multipurpose room was used as a living room and bedroom, with an allocated space for the kitchen which also doubled as the dining area. Each floor shared a block of toilets situated at the end of the corridor.

The chawls were almost a replica of the villages where the people came from. But instead of a cluster of huts, the chawls provided for residences, with the courtyards and markets providing for community meeting places.

With the increase in the workforce, more and more chawls were constructed to meet the growing need for housing. The areas in which the workers and families settled, which was close to the mills were Tardeo, Byculla, Mazagaon, Reay Road, Lalbaug, Parel, Naigaum, Sewri, Worli and Prabhadevi. Together they came to be known as Girangaon, Village of the Mills.

The demand for workers housing was first met by private entrepreneurs. The chawls were small, but still housed 300 to 400 single rooms. These structures in their initial years were home to single castes or creeds. Initially workers settled into the city alone, but gradually brought their families along.
A group of 3 to 4 chawl buildings were usually built around an open space. This space served as a location for games, sports, weddings and community festivals. This conglomeration of events, celebrations and community specific identities, stirred among the residents a magnificent sociability, despite cramped living conditions and the lack of private space. The culture built around the growth of the textile industry became a huge part of Bombay’s unique identity.

The Textile Strike of 1982 however saw the beginning of the end of Bombay’s textile boom. During the 1970’s and 80’s, the mills began loosing money, for various reasons. The government had to step in to subsidize the continuation of the industry or declare the mills “sick”, eventually taking them over. The strike was seen as one of the longest and largest in history spanning 18 months, and where nearly 60,000 workers eventually lost their jobs. (Dwivedi Sharada, Mehrotra Rahul. Bombay: The Cities Within). The effects of the strike on life were large, encompassing not just unemployment, but also the once famous Girangaon culture, architecture and way of life.

The area of the mills spans almost 600 acres and is situated in the heart of Mumbai. In a city where horizontal expansion is not possible and where real estate is literally hot property, the mill area gained prominence for its ideal location. Today, the mills have shut shop and the massive mill workforce have been rendered unemployed. The girni culture that was once part of Bombay’s DNA, is now replaced by a consumerist culture represented by sprawling malls and sophisticated offices.