Someone (read Shakespeare) had famously said ‘The course of true love never did run smooth’. However, for venerable Mumbaikars, simple act of road travel from home to workplace & vice-versa is generally so long that no one minds a few potholes, roadblocks and traffic blues in the journey, as long as they eventually reach their destinations. Since Mumbai’s annual ‘Paoos’ (rains) arrive around June second week (at least, they used to 10 years ago !) there is always frenetic digging activity which include road repairs, laying new pipelines, widening and the endless ‘Metro’ work, some three to six months prior !
Well-seasoned Mumbaikars always understand all complex municipal issues involved in maintaining this burgeoning metropolis but even the most resilient have suddenly found that navigating the traffic has become more challenging in the recent times with spurt of digging, making half of the road inaccessible & roadblocks across most lanes & by-lanes. Auto-walas are generally unfazed by minor disruptions (Yahan aisa hi chalta hai !) but of late they too are a confused lot ! When I got onto one yesterday, he asked me ‘Kidhar se jaye, sabhi road toh khod ke rakha, baad mein mat kehna – that I took a longer route’…
While this may be a universal problem for the daily road commuters, we retired senior citizens have made our own strategies as we always do. I’ve now stopped driving and my Car’s unscathed, doesn’t face parking problems, stationed as it is in my own paid Society space nor does hurly burly of reckless two wheelers, speeding autos & errant bus drivers pose a threat to my declining motor driving skills ! More importantly, I’m saving on gas (petrol) that last checked was about Rs.104 per litre and doesn’t look like coming down. But ‘look before you leap’ into an auto for base price has quietly risen to 26/- from 23/- !
Also shouldn’t there’ve been a net positive impact on the middle class household budget, now that the trips to the petrol pump are over ! Not really, for staying at home one tends to consume for power and with return of Mumbai’s sweltering afternoons, the ACs come into play in a big way. Equipped digitally than ever before, why go out when on-line you can get ‘dal, sabji, fruits ‘ delivered home. Who can resist those ‘Swiggy’ & ‘Zomato’ good samaritan like offers for Pizzas, Burgers, Chole Bature & Biryani .. just check the menus. And at any cost, don’t forget the monthly payouts or else Tata Play, Netflix, Prime, Jio, Hotstar will stop your TV binge-watching and Mobiles will lose their signals promptly !
All one has to do is be ready to spend (with GST thereon) and not worry about expenses. There is this recurring problem of small change and being equipped with small notes is being wise. But digitalization has solved that issue also – just scan with G-Pay and pay !
Working on Living 