Last week was the first time I walked Raghavji Road. To see the home of a half-forgotten hero, who framed the "Quit India" slogan and before that "Simon go back". Commonly attributed to Gandhiji, these catchphrases were originally coined by socialist Yusuf Meherally who, with the Mahatma's approval, distributed badges with "Quit India" printed on them. Rousing a whole country from this tiny lane off Gowalia Tank, that battle cry sparked the 1942 August Kranti revolt in the maidan opposite.

Meherally's building, Bombay View, tail-ends Raghavji Road, his apartment lower than street level owing to the slant it perches on. I reach, taking in a bunch of "views" en route — Rock View, East View, Hill View and Best View being some three-storey residences rowed along the stretch. When they rose in the 1930s and '40s, they afforded fine sights of the rising sun, of a city panorama, of Forjett Hill. Though these still handsome structures stand largely intact, a haphazard rash of hideous towers engulfs Gowalia Tank, blocking the vantage views.