Shivaji Park stretched vast and green under the pearl grey sky of early morning. The winter sun had not yet burned through the coastal haze, and the grounds lay wrapped in a soft, diffused light that turned everything dreamlike. Joggers made their slow circuits along the perimeter. A group of elderly men performed their daily yoga on the grass, their movements synchronized and serene. Somewhere in the distance, a cricket match was already underway, the hollow crack of leather on willow echoing across the maidan.