The Occasion: The crowds—dressed traditionally in white—are gathered by the water's edge during low tide to offer prayers and observe a religious festival or holy day (such as Navroz or auspicious days on the Zoroastrian calendar) where paying reverence to natural elements like the sea (Avran) is customary.
The Landmarks:
Dominating the skyline on the left is the unmistakable silhouette of the Rajabai Clock Tower (part of the University of Bombay complex), standing tall alongside other Victorian Gothic public buildings of the era.
The stretch of water shown is the old Back Bay, long before the major reclamation projects of the 1920s and 1930s pushed the shoreline back and created Marine Drive and Chowpatty. At high tide, the water historically reached right up to the stone embankments near the public secretariat and university buildings.
