Archiving / Documentation

This majestic gate must have welcomed many workers once upon a time…today it is shut for ever… shutting off many lives with it….These bulletin must have announced so many important decisions to the workers… decisions which gave different directions to their lives….and to their futures… from seeking justice and equity to loosing hope and security…..

A traditional dwelling of the mill workers in Giraingaon: A Chawl: The Chawls- 2 to 3 stories high, single room tenements with a common narrow corridor, and a block of shared toilets situated at the end of the corridor. During the hay days of Girangaon, these chawls housed 2.5 Million workers and their families. This congested tenement living created a “Chawl Culture” based upon a shared life style and a collective identity, thus nurturing many renowned artists, playwrights, singers and political leaders. Today it is being replaced by the “Mall Culture”.

The single screen movie theatres were built for the entertainment of the mill workers, to stop them from going to their villages during festivals.

This famous deity attracts millions of devotees from across the city and the state alike during the Ganesh Festival - the public celebration of Ganapati was started by Lokmanya Tilak in Mumbai as a movement of resistance to the colonial powers.

A local art form performed by the endangered species of Girangaon - the performing artists who brought local art forms from the land of their origin to Mumbai and synthesized a new culture in Mumbai that entertained many generations.

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.

Since 1982 the mills workers have been struggling for justice…. demanding work security for themselves and their children… an affordable place to live….but the rapid urbanization process and lack of political will has failed to resolve these issues of habitat and livelihood for them, thus pushing many of them in daily wage labourer.