From the helicopter, bumping through the air, which is not unlike an autorickshaw on the roads, all that can be seen is water. Forty minutes of being strapped to the seat, with the deafening sound of the helicopter buzzing through the ear muffs, a steel island standing on stilts looms in the distance.
The most arresting sight, as the steel island comes nearer, is the flame at one end. The flame, which never goes out, is at the end of a long tube that juts out of the island, which helps produce and process nearly 7 per cent of the total crude oil and nearly 16 per cent of the natural gas produced from India's domestic oil and gas fields.
This is Bombay High South, part of the largest oil field in the country, operated by the country's largest oil company Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). This field is over 30 years old.
With a slight jerk, the 13-seater United Helicharters helicopter lands on what looks like a tarpaulin sheet. It is only then that I notice the first signs of life on the steel island
