WE HAVE BEEN VERY fortunate to get a booking at the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, located next door to the world famous luxurious Taj Mahal Hotel. Our bedroom is directly opposite the front of the Gateway of India – Bombay’s best known landmark.

The Gateway was built to celebrate the arrival in India of the British King George V – Emperor of India. However, as it was only completed in 1924, the king only got to see a cardboard model of the archway. Construction of this edifice only began in 1915, when the land on which it now stands was first prepared. The Gateway’s foundations only began to be built in 1920.

The magnificent archway was designed by George Wittet (1878-1926), an architect who worked mainly in Bombay. The Gateway was designed in an Indo-Saracenic style with many features borrowed from 16TH mosques found in Gujarat.

The Gateway is a brilliant piece of architecture. In its position next to the sea, it ‘works’ successfully. It has become not only an icon of Bombay but also, I believe, of India. I find it ironic that like that other icon of India, the Taj Mahal in Agra, its construction was inspired not by Indians but by invaders of the Indian Subcontinent. Despite that, Indians love it and flock to see it.