Mind Blogging. Mind Boggling.

Mumbai roads are unique. It is not uncommon to find six different surfaces along the breadth of a typical two-lane road in the city. In decreasing order of traveler comfort;

1) Concrete
2) Tar
3) Cobblestone
4) Metal manhole cover
5) Dry earth/Slush
6) Water

I hope you noted the word "breadth", above. Along the length is no feat. I will be on the lookout for photographic evidence in my travels through the city. I would be so overjoyed if I find a cross section neatly and equally divided among all the above- a two lane road; one third of a lane dedicated to each of the above surfaces.  To all my readers, whichever corner of the city you are in, please keep an eye. It could be right outside your living room window, this mythical road!
  
All right, dry earth and water is commonplace - you find them everywhere- not the USP. In Mumbai, though, the core road itself is a patchwork of three legitimate surfaces- 1, 2 and 3.  And thanks to the copious amounts of water the city's underground drains have to no doubt handle during the monsoons, 4 makes up a not-insignificant portion of the road space. Many a time, the manhole cover is missing and all that's left is a gaping hole. In the monsoons, the drain beneath would be overflowing and one can see water forming a virtual cover. The list should therefore be tweaked to read:

4) Metal Manhole cover, switching occasionally with 6) Water, or 7) Air.
7) Air

The perfect place to observe this abundant diversity is the Andheri Kurla Road betweeen Saki Naka and the highway. Truly a sight to behold and an experience to be felt, that stretch of road is. What with the Metro construction happening, there are other exotic materials added to the mix. Track ballast. Those sharp intermeshing rocks on which the rail tracks lie.

So road surface is also called race surface, right. Lingua franca for F1 enthusiasts. Surface is skin. Racial skin.
Talking of racial skin- Mumbai has abundant diversity. Brown (slush/earth) White (concrete) Black (tar).