THE VIEW FROM THE 11TH FLOOR

His offices occupied the whole of the top floor - a circular tower in the middle of the town.  Huge windows provided an uninterrupted view of the city and its domes and temples and the vast expanse of typical flat topped buildings, which give Baroda its distinctive appearance.  He pointed out the Maharajah's palace through one window, then the Victorian red brick museum and through another window, the dome of MS University.  But the view from the last window was the most interesting.... the river was down below, choked with river weed and mangroves..... then to my astonishment, brazenly swimming amongst it, were the most enormous crocodiles I've ever seen.  So the stories were true - crocodiles were seen in the middle of  town, some years back, during the   severe Monsoon floods and furthermore, many animals from the city zoo had gone missing at the time....!