It was a penny-drop moment for most of the participants who had accompanied this columnist on what was meant to be a walk around a charming Art Deco neighbourhood [Hindu Colony] on a pleasant November morning. It turned out to be more of a reality check.

For yours truly, it was a heart-tugging inevitable eyesore, compounded by dread and disappointment. We were staring at a massive blue barricade that fronted Krishna Kunj, a 1933-established building near the Patkar Guruji Chowk. The shock was deeper, given that exactly a week ago, when I walked the same route, the building was intact, with no trace of impending doom. Apart from the photographs I had clicked of this vernacular building with traditional timberwork and a tiled roof, reminiscent of structures in the Konkan, there were no other reminders of this building. The participants had to be content with those frames to imagine its earlier grandeur.