A chawl is a type of building that is often 4 to 5 stories with about 10 to 20 tenements (referred to as kholis meaning rooms) on each floor,. Many chawls can be found in Mumbai where they were constructed in abundance in the early 1900s to house the people migrating to Mumbai because of its booming cotton mills and overall strong economy.
The above picture is of a chawl in Gamdevi.
