By the time you read this, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would be on the last leg of their Mumbai tour, exchanging ideas with some of Mumbai’s brightest minds as they talk shop about start-ups, social enterprise and strategy in today’s times. Smart move, we thought. However, the other two stops on the itinerary, Banganga Tank and Oval Maidan, had us a bit surprised. Sure, both places represent different connects of the city but we were expecting a far livelier, trippy schedule for the young royals. With the city having such a long association with the British, this seemed even more logical. We couldn’t help but draw out a plan; alas! one that will remain unrealised.

Locations like the Chhatrapati Shivaji Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly Prince of Wales Museum) that was named after King George V – Prince William’s great-great grandfather — would have been the ideal place to kick things off. Of course not before a quick dekko of the Indo-Saracenic marvel — the Gateway of India — constructed in honour of the King George V and Queen Mary’s arrival in to India for the Delhi Durbar. Stretches of the heady Victorian Gothic ensemble that line the Oval Maidan would have been perfect stopovers as well, what with their splendid confluence of Indian and British ideas and designs. Further, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus) and the BMC building — two of the best examples of the Bombay Gothic style — the former especially (with a faint resemblance to St Pancras in London) would have offered fascinating insight. Ask any British tourist about this bit, and you’ll see why.