“Mumbai seems to be the new Blue City,” remarked a friend, tongue firmly in cheek, on a recent visit to the city her first during the monsoon. As our taxi crawled past stubborn traffic on pock-marked roads, blue tarpaulin sheets could be spotted dotting the cityscape with alarming regularity.

She wasn’t wrong entirely. Come the rains, and the city is dressed in blue, almost with clockwork precision. Call them eyesores or an embarrassment, but these waterproof wonder sheets serve as much needed protection (and shelter) for millions in the city.