Armenian graves. Pics/Snigdha Hasan

It is in the most unlikely of places that one comes face to face with Mumbai’s history — in all its cosmopolitan glory. For the residents of Antop Hill, or Wadala East, as the area has been re-christened, it might be amusing that their neighbourhood was once the city’s necropolis. On Sheikh Misri Road, right beneath the monorail track, is a row of burial sites dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Lush green, these serene plots of land belong to the tiniest ethnic communities of Mumbai.