Living in chawls (tenements) was better than living in societies, T told us. “The people who have benefited the most from the building of societies are BEST, Bombay Electricity Supply Trust. Living in a society, you sit under the fan and watch TV for 10 hours. In Chawls, we had no time for TV. You got out of your house and there were people around, there was always something happening. People knew each other. Here, you only talk on the phone. Only when you go down (to the street-level) do you get to see people. If someone is sick and can’t come down, you wouldn’t know about them.” T worked as a signboard painter and painted designs for the mandals used to carry Ganesh statues to the sea during the Ganpati festival. His family (his wife and 3 children), like other families in this society, had been living here for the past 4 years.
The society (a collection of high-rise flats) T was living in was 24 storeys high and run by the Maharashtra Housing and Development Authority (MHADA). This one had 6 buildings in it, which housed families living there temporarily while the chawls they used to live in were being redeveloped. Each floor has 12 families, and different families often shared flats - consisting of a small living space, a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen.