Girgaon Chowpatty

This guide to Girgaon Chowpatty in Mumbai starts in 1893, when colonial law banned political gatherings of more than twenty people. It follows the nationalist journalist Bal Gangadhar Tilak as he turns a private household prayer into a public street festival that the British could not legally touch, drawing Brahmins, Marathas and the Koli fishing community into the same procession. It is best heard walking the last stretch of sand toward the water, where the procession has always ended.