Talk to me, dear teenager, you awesome 16-year-old, child adult, social media czar, downloader of every kind of app, selfie expert -- I need to get into your head, under your skin, without treading on your privacy. So you've just finished your ICSE, you’re on the brink of college and the threshold of adulthood. Hormones raging, holidays beckoning, happiness personified. In the coolest city, the world is yours to conquer. You'll soon be able to drink, drive (well legally at least, and please, not that the same time). No more boring school uniforms, you can wear those designer clothes into the college canteen. You want to soak in the fresh air of Mumbai, an era that your parents talked to you about -- those good old days in the city -- open-air rock shows at Rang Bhavan, all-night partying, bindaas Bombay, where most things worked, nothing really pissed you off, and 'live and let live' was the philosophy.

Illustration / Amit Bandre