In the last week of December, I took my interns for a walk to the coastline of Mumbai. We started at the Girgaum Chowpatty and headed towards the Sewri Fort and Bay area. The two spots together consumed the better part of our day.

At Chowpatty, my friend Pradip Patade, who teaches kayaking, wind surfing and several other water sports, spoke to the group about his work on documenting the marine diversity of Mumbai’s coastline. The wide diversity he has photographed and located in the last few years, right here in our seemingly polluted waters, is fascinating . We were like kids in a candy store, watching goggle-eyed, listening to every story he had to share. By noon, the tide was high, but we couldn’t resist the temptation of taking a walk on the beach and exploring the mysteries it had in store for us. There were hundreds of gulls bobbing up and down and swaying in the tide, creating a ruckus over some morsel thrown from a nearby pier or picking up floating debris. While we stood identifying them through our binoculars, something darted from near our feet. The startled interns watched the ghostly figures dart across and disappear into the sand.