A Walk Through History With Chembur’s Old Houses

While modern architecture, with its bent towards minimalism and clean-cut designs, largely defines our imagination of city houses today, there is something about the charm of old houses in the way that they add character to a city.

Perhaps it’s because old houses offer a story of the city’s past and its people. Reveling in this vintage aesthetic is Shaunak Joshi, a local resident of Chembur who clicks pictures of many such houses as he walks through his neighbourhood.

His Instagram page, Houses Of Chembur, showcases, as Shaunak puts it, ‘the low key cosmopolitanism, linguistic and religious pluralism, and general idiosyncrasies of the houses of Chembur.’

Even if you’ve never been to Chembur, the page is sure to capture your attention. Walking down the decrepit alleys of Chembur today, you’ll come across several antiquated dwellings that give you a glimpse into the history of the place. In post-partition India, many people from the Sindh region in present-day Pakistan were forced to flee and seek refuge in the cities of Thane and Mumbai, particularly the Chembur area.

Huge portions of the land next to Bombay Presidency Golf Club was allocated to the construction of refugee camps. As more and more Sindhis began to settle down, they brought with them the rich diversity of their culture. It is this cultural diversity and noble historicity that Houses Of Chembur aims to explore and showcase.

You can checkout the Instagram page here.

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