Still, I strap my equipment behind me and begin the climb—I’m going to be the first photojournalist capturing the cable-stayed bridge of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link from the top and it’s not a chance I’m giving up for fear of a steep climb.

It takes me well over half an hour, after being dropped off half-way up in a thrilling trolleycar lift ride. My destination is the little cabin where a crane operator sits, assisting the stringing of the cables. I stop twice along the way, panting hard and hoping the man up there will spare me a sip of water.

Along the way up, I see cables being tightened. Specially ordered from China, they are made of stress-relieved high tensile galvanized steel. Each cable comprises slender, 7 mm thick wires bunched together in varying sequences. There will be a total of 264 cables holding up the 125-metre high central tower, the height of a 55-storey building. Another little factoid: Line up all the steel wires and there’s enough to go around the Earth’s circumference.

I reach the crane operator’s cabin, clutching my thudding heart and my camera. It’s a sight I won’t forget ever—there’s some fog, but I can see all the way till Haji Ali on one side, 3,000 workers looking like ants below, the massive steel cables looking somewhat like pieces of string. As the crane moves, I get various angles.