I woke up this morning thinking, as I am almost always compelled to, about all the people most Bombayites love to hate. Naturally, the faces of our many politicians sprung to mind almost at once, aided by the many illegal hoardings routinely plastered across the city, all featuring their creepily smiling faces as they stare, point at random things or appear to walk purposefully towards the inauguration of projects that will inevitably fail.

Their faces were followed by those of the men and women supposedly employed by the BMC, who get paid either for work that rarely lasts a few months or, as a number of scams have shown, for not turning up to work at all. Other worthies vying for position on my list included bus conductors, the tip-hungry staff at public hospitals and, of course, the men who drive taxis and rickshaws.