So Long, Chum

The former Post and Telegraph ‘chummery’ on Delhi’s sleepy Atul Grove Road is now home to families with children who will grow up in a world without the telegraph—or the chummery. For their enlightenment, if not yours: a ‘chummery’ is a type of accommodation to be distinguished from those of the bungalow, club or hotel. In its original use, it was also a cultural or racial category, in that it was for Europeans (and not Indians), a category of gender (in that it was for males and not females), of marital status (only for unmarried males) and of social class (for those members of the metropolitan society practising ‘chumming’ or the ‘sharing of chambers’)”— from Colonial Urban Development, by Anthony D. King, Routledge 2007. Other repurposed chummeries in the capital may be glimpsed adjoining Gole Dak Khana (once known as Alexandra Place).

THE FORMER POST AND TELEGRAPH ‘CHUMMERY’ ON DELHI’S SLEEPY ATUL GROVE ROAD