Shantaram Chawl, hotbed of freedom movement, turns 125 | Mumbai news

The quietude of the settlement, which was built 125 years ago, is ever so delicately offset by an array of cars and two-wheelers, representing the growing prosperity of its residents.

Residents of the 180 households are unwitting inheritors of the chawl’s history where freedom fighters such as Lokmanya Tilak, Sarojini Naidu, Annie Besant, Mahatma Gandhi, Benjamin Horniman, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Lala Lajpat Rai, amongst others, once converged to lead movements.

To celebrate the chawl’s landmark year, Anagha Bedekar, whose family owns the popular spices and pickle brand V P Bedekar & Sons Private Limited, and also possesses many buildings in the chawl; and Amey Joshi, a freelance photographer and a fourth-generation resident of the chawl, have documented Shantaram Chawl’s history, based on research from Kesari Wada, Pune, home to Lokmanya Tilak and his descendants; Mani Bhavan; Asiatic Society and newspaper clippings from 1845 onwards, in a slim volume titled, ‘Shantaramchawlichi Smarangatha’.

Through his speeches, Tilak is known to have encouraged people of Shantaram Chawl to celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi as a socio-religious festival. Shantaram Chawl is one of the first in the city to start the Sarvajanik Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. “This year, we will celebrate the 125th Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav. An all-women’s committee has been set up to oversee the celebration,” said Bedekar.

Joshi and Bedekar’s collective endeavour has helped others understand the importance of their address.

“The box shape of the property provided a perfect space to hold meetings as part of the freedom movement,” said Joshi. “This space was more important than Azad Maidan. People climbed up on the buildings, stood up on the rails and lined up the roads to listen to Lokmanya Tilak and Mohammed Ali Jinnah during a meeting against Lord Willingdon.”

“We have heard such stories from older members of our family. It is common knowledge here that when the British learnt about these meetings held in the chawl’s courtyard, they encouraged people to put up a building on the spot, which was eventually named Malini Chawl,” added Bedekar. “After the new chawl came up within Shantaram Chawl, the meetings stopped.”

Jayesh Savarkar, 42, who has spent his life in the chawl is proud of its storied history. “We do not need a social life outside of this place. Every festival is celebrated here elaborately where everyone is involved. Like every other chawl, here too the doors of every house are always kept open. It is so safe that in the nights we keep the inner doors unlocked and only lock up the outer doors,” said Savarkar.

Although his family has an apartment in Borivali, they prefer to live here “as it is a friendlier place”. “My old mother wants to live here as she finds more scope for entertainment to her liking,” he added.

Retired banker Prachi Tillu, has been living in Bedekar Sadan for the past 45 years. She arrived here as a bride, and says, she has grown old with the place. “The Tillus have lived here for 80 years. And we are very proud of this place,” she said.

Like the Savarkars, the Tillus were known to participate in the social life heartily. “We had only heard tales about all the historical events that have taken place here, but this book by Anagha has given us documentary evidence of what actually happened,” said Tillu. She added, while work and marriages have taken her daughters to other cities, they “they converge in this quaint place as often as they can”.

Past perfect

Before Shantaram Chawl was birthed, the open land was used to cultivate pulses such as urad and moong. In the 20th century Shantaram Chawl became a hotbed for political activity. It was the only place in Bombay which was legally allowed to host public meetings in the courtyard. Special permission was given to host open air meetings.

The Shantaram Chawl Complex has three buildings – Bedekar Sadan, Shantaram Chawl and Malini Chawl. The Bedekar Sadan comprising five buildings is owned by V P Bedekar & Sons Private Limited, three buildings of Shantaram Chawl and the Malini Block Cooperative Society. While all buildings have common toilets, some residents have made alterations with time, unwilling to share the private space with others.

The masala business was set up in 1917 in Shantaram Chawl, by Vishwanath Parsharam Bedekar and his son Vasudeo. He came from Goval village in Ratnagiri, for trade. The business started right before a cholera epidemic hit the city. Doctors from Vile Parle to Colaba were known to recommend Bedekar’s recipes and store for homemade antidotes for influenza, dengue and cholera. The demand for mustard and flax seeds powder was so high that at times Vasudeo used to be woken up in the middle of the night by potential customers. He started sleeping in the store eventually. The family thereafter branched into pickle business, with the first batch of 200 units of fresh limes.

This chawl was originally owned by a Bhalchandra Sukhtankar, who named it after his son Shantaram, a renowned lawyer of the time. Shantaram Sukhtankar sold some parts of the 10 buildings, comprising the chawl, to Vasudeo Bedekar as he needed space for his growing business. Around 20 members of the family continue to reside here today.

Like every other chawl in Mumbai, the Shantaram chawl complex with its white buildings, some dilapidated, with long narrow corridors spanning the length of the floor, is a unique aspect of Mumbai’s architectural model, embodying the struggles, dreams and resilience of the working class.

Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai’s (MCGM) records significant events at the chawl — a speech by Mahatma Gandhi and B G Horniman, editor of ‘The Bombay Chronicle’ at the time, on the plight of underpaid Kheda peasants. In the days following the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Girgaum was shut down.

The chawl’s layout is equally distinctive — single or double rooms are connected by wooden stairs. In the absence of an open courtyard, where Malini chawl was built, most social functions and get-togethers are held in Bedekar’s house.

The residents, including the Bedekars, are resigned to the fact that Shantaram Chawl complex will not be able to escape the scourge of redevelopment over the next three to four years. A gigantic under-construction skyscraper, in the neighbouring compound separated only by a wall, casts a long shadow over it.