Monsoon clouds snag on the Kharghar hills, and Pandavkada Falls pours down a green cliff in sight of apartment towers. The city was planned in neat nodes between these slopes and the water, so a climb up Parsik Hill shows the whole plan, with rail lines, rooftops, mangroves and the grey sheet of Thane Creek.
Down on the flats, Vashi's wholesale market fills with crates of Alphonso mangoes in spring, and pink flamingos wade along the creek in winter. The climate is tropical, with heavy monsoon rain from June to September and drier, sunny months after that. A Local Friend pulls up a chair for you at a family-run Koli seafood kitchen you would never have spotted from the highway.
