Describe the life in Chawls? How did people entertain themselves in Chawls? 4marks

• Chawls were multi-storeyed structures which had been built from at least the 1860s in the ‘native’ parts of the town.
• These houses were largely owned by private landlords, such as merchants, bankers, and building contractors, looking for quick ways of earning money from anxious migrants. 
• Each chawl was divided into smaller one-room tenements which had common toilets.

The sources of entertainment were:

Streets were used for different types of leisure activities. There was an open space in the middle of our four chawls. There the  magicians, monkey players or acrobats used to regularly perform their acts.