Mumbai was an especially surreal city to live in during the early days of the country-wide lockdown. Normally a pulsating metropolis, it was shrouded with an eerie silence broken only by the likes of chirping birds, the occasional cries of vegetable vendors strolling by with their carts, and the wail of beggars pleading with people housed within their walls of privilege. The city is inching back to life again. Some of the more familiar sounds like that of honking cars have returned to assault our ears. But it will still be a while before we go back to the helter-skelter existence that had consumed our lives before the pandemic.

Dennis Fabian Peter is an electronic artiste who has now given that earlier hustle and bustle a sonic narrative. He's released a single called This city swells under his artiste moniker, Non Linear. It's a track that captures the previous frenetic pace of the city that we had accepted as de rigueur. A thumping bass line that remains constant reflects Mumbai's nonstop pulse, for instance. Peter says, "I also included elements of grunge music that represent the city's grit despite all its glamour."