The Current Scenario

Atypical day at the fish market here is crowded with customers coming from nearby and distant communities to buy fish from the Koli women selling fish in baskets outside under the sun. It is possible to access the start of a small community of Charkop Koliwada by way of a little route that runs through this marketplace. Doors that open onto the street are common, as are guys reading newspapers on chairs outdoors while having a discussion with the other four people who are walking by. These vibrant homes are located in the shadows of the recently constructed skyscrapers. The locals saw this as an opportunity to earn extra money, so they had tiny communities with residents from Jalna and Aurangabad erected on portions of the marshy ground on the other side of the talav. Here, the women take on domestic cleaning and cooking duties while the men work as wage earners. The Koliwada’s rooms (kholis) are similarly close together. A thin stream of light from the jali between two roofs illuminates the dim, confined spaces.

The hutments that presently make up the new border of the marshy terrain are located beyond these two belts. Families that cannot afford the rent in the societies are the majority of those who live in kaccha dwellings.

The koliwada employs indigenous fishing methods and plays a significant role in providing fish to the surrounding community. As a result, the community’s upkeep and genuine development become vital. Additionally, the property will be impacted by the construction of the Coastal Road and may perhaps be washed away. Therefore, it would take work to provide pertinent solutions in line with urban initiatives and to rethink them as well.

While the cluster housing plan contributes to the culture of the neighbourhood, it also gives rise to unfavourable drainage and other services that the neighbourhood requires to survive. A better, more organised, and hygienic drainage system is required. The residents of Charkop Koliwada make enough money to either invest in improving living conditions or ensure their future. This further exposes the site to risk since, as in the past, it has the funds but not the best use for them.

The homes in the Koliwada area are in good shape, but additional lighting is needed in the public areas. Better care and space are required for the market area, which is the focus of their business. Before they are subjected to large, dismal buildings, the encroachments beyond the Koliwada need a better standard of living. For the Koliwada to continue to be its own entity, they need a more carefully planned development.

Sharing a boundary with the Mahalaxmi railway station, located at the saat rasta roundabout, when taken a seat back from Mumbai’s daily rigmarole, what one could identify are the whites, the greens, the reds and the yellows beneath the sky blues. If followed, these colours lead you down to the largest open laundry of Asia- The Mahalaxmi Dhobi Ghat. Though not by the Municipal Corporation, but by the people there, the occupation here is very well organised. It is insane to know that an occupation that began in the Victorian Era almost 140 years ago with just 50 washermen has grown to become a recognised landmark for the Mahalaxmi area.

This laundromat came to Bombay when the city was facing an industrial and commercial boom. It took over the entire laundry service of all the worker classes working for the hospitals, docks, mills, and all the other East India Company’s commercial sectors in the city. Till the 1890s the people here had two bifurcated systems adopted in their occupational arenas, one being washing and the other soaking. People and the workforce were divided as per these two procedures. But as population in the city and in this industry increased by 1895, all the washer men and women learnt to do everything to suffice the service needed.