At the stroke of the midnight hour between 14th and 15th August 1947 India became a free country. Thousands of people who had fought for freedom wanted to go back to their lives, feeling their dream was accomplished. One of them was Jabir Ali. A meeting of many such people was called in a cinema near Chembur naka called “Vijay cinema”. The gathering was about how these people can better their country, without having to go into politics. Jabir Ali was elected as the most suitable person to lead such an effort. Jabir Ali was sure what he wanted to do next. During the partition period communal passions were flared and he, along with his friends, wanted to eliminate that feeling. The solutions was to have people play sports together, that would build camaraderie and therefore brotherhood. With this in mind the Chembur Gymkhanna was formed.

A membership drive was launched. A small group of cricketers were inducted into the club. The Chembur Gymkhana convinced the Hindu colony to give space for badminton. The secretary of the Gymkhana was one Mr.Wolridge who also gave space for Badminton in his garden. It was brought to the notice of Jabir Ali, the Chairman of the Chembur Gymkhana, that there was a piece of property that belonged to the collector, which the collector could lease for various public purposes. Therefore Jabir Ali, the then chairman, approached the Chief Minister of Bombay Presidency, Mr. Kher, who was Jabir Ali’s fellow freedom fighter. Mr. Kher laid down two conditions for the land to be used for Gymkhana purposes,

1. The Gymkhana should be for the common man for playing sports; not a rich man’s club

2. it should be open to all communities.

This way the 2.5 acres of collectors’ land became part of the Chembur Gymkhana.

Having acquired this land the committee was aware that it had no funds. So they decided that they will seek donations from affluent members and outside the gymkhana circle. They got many donations and one of them was for Rs/- 10,000 from the Badruddin Tyabji memorial funds. This was a large sum for the time and allowed them to build a indoor Badminton court. There was a family of Sutrawalas, a wealthy family of industrialists, that was persuaded by Jabir Ali to build two more rooms, one for billiards and one for table-tennis.

By this time Mr. Wolridge had retired and Mr. Bhaorao Chemburkar had become the secretary. Mr. Chemburkar brought to the notice of Mr. Ali that there is a villager who has a plot of land adjoining the Chembur Gymkhana, this man was Mr. Kabol Bhai Gandhi. Mr. Chemburkar took Mr. Ali to meet with Mr. Gandhi, who was very willing to donate that land and support the Gymkhana. Along with this land, the gymkhana now had land that no other gymkhana could match. Because of these donations the Chembur Gymkhana could stand on its own and become a place for bustling activity every evening. The chembur gymkhana continue to have a fee structure which was not too difficult for a lower middle class family. So the gymkhana had people from the government offices join the gymkhana, people who did not hold any big positions, common people. This continued for a dozen years and truly brought the common people together for enjoying their evenings, and in the process brought various communities together in a very special brotherhood.

It seems to me that the growth of Gymkhana is closely linked to the growth of Chembur and the Trombay island. They go hand in hand. By the middle of the 1950s Trombay island was growing into a major industrial center of the state. Two big oil refineries, one belonging to Burma shell company and the other to standard oil company, had come on one part of the island, employing many hundreds of people. Next to them was another great company known as Rastrya Chemical Fertilizers. Then came the biggest of them all the Bhabha Atomic Research Center. Persons employed in these very large concerns needed entertainment and an opportunity to indulge into sporting activities. The chembur Gymkhanna was obviously one institution that gave them this opportunity. The new comers to the gymkhana were not satisfied to be members of a poor persons club. They wanted a larger variety of sports and they wanted the gymkhana to function like a club, where they could relax with their friends and be served refreshments and bring their families for social get-togethers over the weekend. They gymkhana which had been a cozy little place for a few friends, maybe 20-30, coming together to enjoy their evenings obviously had to change drastically to meet the needs of these new comers. Change began to take place in 1960s as Tennis and Billiards were brought into the gymkhanna and a card playing group was formed. By 1980 the Gymkhanna was already developing into a club for more affluent people. Changes have been happening more rapidly and more dramatically so that today it is a club for upper middle class people with magnificent buildings, more than one restaurant providing refreshments, a swimming pool and air-conditioned halls for various types of entertainments. This is how a community evolves the only unfortunate consequence being that the original people of Chembur have very little to do with it today. It is a club for the affluent. But it did serve to bring communities together, and rich memories of those early years of struggle brighten the minds of many old timers.