Great to see broadening of the discussion's cultural scope from red light districts and western tourism in Paris to parallel concepts. However, the definition I found online suggested Hindi/Urdu maṭaragashtī can also refer to aimless loitering... a much less romantic and far more prevalent activity in the subcontinent!

One of my favourite Indian flaneur moments was finding a safe-looking mushroom while circumambulating a hill near a Jain site I was visiting in Karnataka. Bored and of generally flaneurial mindset I decided to eat it. About ten minutes later I wandered past a push-cart in to a small village, and came across a fluorescent hot pink goat. I wondered if the mushroom had anything to do with it, and had to double take - but no: they'd missed a spot. The animal had been spraypainted! Only in India...

https://i.postimg.cc/yNFrtPZm/hot-pink-goat.jpg