Any one who has had the pleasure of visiting Mumbai’s iconic race course early in the morning will know what a charmed life the city can afford some of its citizens.

There you are, the pungent aroma of freshly bathed horses in your nostrils and the warm morning sun on your back, amidst the city’s horse and dog people, the Indian equivalent of town and country squires, out for their morning trot, all pip pip and tally ho as they revel in a morning that starts with a brisk ride and ends with akuri and melba toast next door.