What were the chawls ? Describe the living conditions in chawls.
(1) Chawls were multistoried structures. These were largely owned by private landlords looking for quick ways of earning money from anxious migrants. Each chawl was divided into smaller one-room tenements which had no private toilets. (2) The living conditions in chawls were as mentioned below : The average number of occupants of a room were between 4 and 5. High rents forced the workers to share their rooms with relatives or caste fellows. People had to keep the windows of kilter rooms closed even in humid weather due to the ‘close proximity’ of filthy gutters, privies, buffalo stables etc. Water was scarce, and people often quarrelled every morning for a turn at the tap. The houses were, however, kept clean. As the homes were small, the streets and neighbourhoods were used for cooking, washing and sleeping. Liquor shops and akharas were opened in the empty spot. The magicians, monkey players or acrobats used to perform their acts in the open space in the middle of chawls. Chawls became the places where people exchanged news about jobs, strikes, riots or demonstrations. Caste and family groups in the neighbourhood were headed by a person like a village headman. The ‘depressed classes’ or the lower castes were not allowed to live in many chawls. They lived in shelters made of corrugated sheets, leaves or bamboo poles.
