“There are so many unexplored stories and sites beyond the original walls of the Fort; you have to just go looking for them. And, they must be documented.” Those words by Captain Ramesh Babu resonated long after our insightful chat on a Sunday afternoon. The person in question is the author of a recent release, My Own Mazagon that now graces the Bombay/Mumbai section of my bookshelf. It’s a delightful ode to the neighbourhood’s rich local history and diverse communities. He was genuinely concerned about the lack of documentation of equally significant areas in the original seven islands, and Salcette that forms a large chunk of today’s Greater Mumbai.

But what the retired Indian Navy man reiterated was only a nudge about the many times this columnist has been reminded of that reality. Over the years, the city’s rich and glorious past has been dissected and explained and yet, somehow, there is a feeling that when it comes to smaller neighbourhoods, localities, and especially today’s suburbs, we are only scratching the surface.