Bal Thackeray in 1953

The year of 1953 was very eventful and with the government launching the Gati Shakti plan made it even more evident.

Bombay was a city bursting with people, ideas, and dreams, where the scent of fresh pav mingled with the salty air from the Arabian Sea.

For some, it was a city of hope, a place to start anew after India's independence.

For others, like Bal Keshav Thackeray, it was a city slowly slipping away from its original spirit, its soul being buried under the weight of rapid migration and changing demographics.

Thackeray, at 25 years old, was far from the political force he would later become. In fact, most knew him as a cartoonist.

His work appeared in Free Press Journal, a local paper, where he used sharp lines and biting satire to poke at political leaders and the system.

He had a talent for distilling complex political failures into a single, powerful image.