Netaji Subhash Chandra Marg, better known as Marine Drive , is Mumbai's seaside prom, an eight-lane highway with a wide pavement built in the 1920s on reclaimed land. Sweeping in an arc from the skyscrapers at Nariman Point in the south, Marine Drive ends at the foot of Malabar Hill and the old Chowpatty Beach. The whole stretch is a favourite place for a stroll; the promenade next to the sea has uninterrupted views virtually the whole way along, while the apartment blocks on the land side - most of which are ugly, unpainted concrete and called something-or-other Mahal - are some of the most desirable and expensive addresses in the city.

 

It's a great place for people-watching. Early in the morning yuppies in shorts speed-walk or jog before breakfast while street kids, mothers and babies and limbless beggars take up position at the traffic lights at major junctions to petition drivers and passengers for a rupee. Those one rung further up the social ladder have something to sell: twisted fun balloons or a newspaper. Some kids perfunctorily wipe a rag over the bodywork and do their best to wrest a few coins from momentarily captive people, ninety percent of whom stare resolutely ahead.

Evening sees servants walking their bosses' Pekinese or poodles, and children playing under the supervision of their ayahs (nannies). Sometime after 6pm the place magically transforms; the British called it the "Queen's Necklace". The massive red sun disappears into the sea, street lights snap on, five-star hotels glow and neon lights blink. Innumerable couples materialize to take romantic strolls down to the beach, stopping on the way to buy from a peanut vendor or to pay off a hijra , or eunuch, threatening to lift up his sari and reveal all.

Just beyond the huge flyover, B Bridge, are a series of cricket pitches known as gymkhanas , where there's a good chance of catching a match any day of the week. A number are exclusive to particular religious communities. The first doubles as a swanky outdoor wedding venue for Parsi marriages; others include the Catholic, Islamic and Hindu pitches, the last of which has a classic colonial-style pavilion.