Haji Ali Dargah is a tomb on an island off Bombay, reached by a narrow cement path that the tide can cover. In the novel, the place’s shifting boundary between land and sea frames a conversation in which Doctor Narlikar turns Bombay’s history of reclamation into a business proposal for Ahmed Sinai.

Setting and approach

Ahmed and Doctor Narlikar drive north along Warden Road, past Mahalaxmi Temple and the Willingdon Club golf course, and continue along Hornby Vellard beside the sea wall. Near Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium, Narlikar tells the driver to stop. From the shore, the men face the island and its tomb; pilgrims are walking along the narrow cement path connecting it to the Vellard. The scene places the shrine amid a working, expanding city, where a route across the water can be visible and yet temporary.

Land, sea, and reclamation

Narlikar directs Ahmed’s attention away from the tomb and toward the path. Ahmed observes that the tide will soon cover it. Narlikar makes that familiar change the basis of his argument: Bombay had once consisted of seven islands, which the British joined, turning sea into land. The path to Haji Ali thus supplies a small, immediate image of a larger transformation—the contest between land and water that has shaped the city.

The tetrapod proposal

Narlikar produces a two-inch plaster-of-Paris model of a tetrapod, a concrete structure intended for use in reclamation. He presents the model as the key to a lucrative venture: manufacture tetrapods in large numbers and seek contracts to reclaim land from the sea. Narlikar offers to contribute his contacts while Ahmed supplies capital, proposing that they divide the returns equally. The proposal changes the purpose of their visit from an outing to a business pitch, using the visible sea and path to make large-scale reclamation seem attainable.

Narrative significance

Haji Ali Dargah is not merely a landmark in this episode; it anchors a view of Bombay in which the boundary between sea and land is both physical and changeable. The pilgrim path, partly threatened by the incoming tide, gives Narlikar’s scheme a concrete point of reference. From the shore, he invites Ahmed to imagine the city’s next transformation—and to invest in it.