Explore Chembur with this neighbourhood walk that highlights its lesser-known parts

The narrow lanes of Chembur Gaothan; (right) Traditional jaali work found on the facades of old buildings

Having grown up in Chembur, there's plenty to love about the suburb. It's green, relatively quiet and still has pockets where you can escape the relentless noise of the city. While it has seen its share of food walks, particularly those exploring its Sindhi and South Indian food traditions, a new walk looks at the suburb through a fresh lens.

Beyond its leafy lanes and Art Deco bungalows, Chembur is layered with forgotten villages, memories and stories. This is the Chembur that Prayag Arora-Desai wants you to notice. Early on a Wednesday morning, I joined him to rediscover the suburb. The former journalist and now climate communications professional has spent the last few years "loitering" around the neighbourhood he moved to in 2021. What began as casual walks, and showing friends places he had discovered, has developed into a guided neighbourhood walk, tracing Chembur from its past as a coastal settlement on Trombay Island, to the rapidly-changing suburb it is today.

The Banyan tree inside an old temple complex in Chembur. In the old name of the Vadavali village, ‘vad' refers to the banyan tree; (right) Traditional wells were made out of lime in the gaothan. PICS COURTESY/SUPRITA MITTER

Eyes on the neighbourhood

For Desai, this instinct was sharpened by his years as a journalist, when he roamed the city in search of stories. "The best part about being a reporter was being able to see neighbourhoods through other people's eyes," he says. "And that completely changes your view." The walk isn't an architecture-themed tour, nor is it a heritage or urban-planning trail. Instead, it moves between the physical and cultural markers that represent the area. "I'm not an academic or a historian," Desai says. "I have some sense of how to locate and verify stories. Think of this as a curious guy showing you around his neighbourhood."

Still standing

The walk winds through pockets where its original character survives, sometimes stubbornly, between newer constructions. The Chembur Gaothan, with its independent homes, village houses and surviving architectural details, offers a glimpse into this past. As we walk, villas with asymmetrical façades, vintage jaalis, angular bay windows and projecting balconies emerge from behind compound walls. Abandoned wells and small shrines appear along narrow lanes.

Prayag Arora Desai

One of Desai's first halts is a temple complex whose history dates back centuries. The land was donated by a member of the Somvanshi Kshatriya Pathare community in 1764. A covered-up well nearby still exists in local memory, with residents recalling seeing turtles in it. Then there is the banyan tree. "Vadavali refers to the village with the banyan tree [vad: Banyan tree, Marathi]," he explains. Such names offer clues to how communities once understood and mapped their surroundings, despite landscape changes.

Old independent houses in Chembur on the brink of being redeveloped into high rises

Stories between stories

Desai is also curious about disappearing objects. Old maps, archival material, newspaper reports, interviews with residents and urban-planning records help him piece together fragments of the neighbourhood. One map, for instance, records an area as Little Malabar Hill, a name that has since disappeared from everyday use, even as other local names have survived. "Even today, residents refer to a location in the areas as ‘Lal Dongar'," Desai informs.
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The walk broadens the conversation to climate change, urban flooding and Mumbai's history of land reclamation, while looking at public spaces like Ambedkar Garden and how caste and social hierarchies have shaped the city's planning and access to space. "When someone tells me, ‘This made me see things a little differently'... it's the biggest gratification," Desai sums up.

ON October 3, 4; 7.30 am to 9.30 am
DISTANCE 2.5 kilometres
CALL 9619092104
COST Rs 1000 per person
MEETING POINT Revealed upon registration

In plain sight

A bust of Basava, the 12th century philosopher, poet and founder of the Lingayat movement

A now-shuttered community centre tucked above a modern clothes store hints at the early presence of the Lingayat community in Chembur. The community migrated from Karnataka and parts of Maharashtra for business, employment and education.