For the first time in decades, citizens who drove by Marine Drive yesterday were greeted not with a witty one-liner by Nana Chudasama, but by the shocking news of the Mumbai legend's death. While for his near and dear ones, he was at heart a family man, for many others, the 86-year-old was the city's voice of conscience, and nothing short of an institution.

Nana was "very much a Bombay man. I always think of Nana as Bombay, he was the city in spirit and soul," said Indrani Malkani, Malabar Hill activist and chairperson of V-CAN (Citizens Action Network).