Our generation from the 1960-70s might remember a fine Hollywood comedy ‘Where Were You When the Lights Went Out’ starring Doris Day centering on the real-life, massive black-out which befell New York on 9th Nov.’1965. While the film brought situational humour and craziness of various kinds, it’s not a laughing matter for those caught in a middle of crises beyond their control, till life gets back to its daily normal !
Such a situation happened in our megacity Mumbai yesterday afternoon albeit of lesser intensity than in ‘Where Were You..’ but enough to throw the city out of gear and poor commuters returning from work completely in the lurch. Suddenly, most of the three lac ‘Autos’ and ‘Taxis’ across Mumbai had spluttered to a grinding halt and not able to operate. Popular daily tabloid ‘Midday’ titled today’s front page ‘City Hit By Gas Trouble’ ! It reported ‘Mumbai reels under a severe energy crises after the gas supply collapsed on Sunday, forcing CNG pumps to shut down from Monday morning..the issue is likely to be resolved only by Tuesday noon. Commuters are bracing for another chaotic day’ !
Where were we when all this was building up ? Actually, stranded on the road at about 7 pm and desperately trying to flag down an auto or taxi. Hordes of people, mostly office returning men and women were also competing to find a willing savior but to no avail. Like good & model citizens we use the reliable ‘Metro’ often but in Mumbai, ‘Autos’ are the real lifeline for providing the last mile connectivity. After some tries, like resilient ‘Mumbaikars’ we decided to walk towards our home 2 kms away. Unfortunately, our footwear that evening (leather shoes & high heeled chappals) weren’t quite ready for it…
Big B has said in one of his KBC shows ‘Koshish karne walon ki kabhi haar nahi hoti’ ! True enough, like a gift from heaven, suddenly an Auto stopped almost next to us, to let off a lady who’d reached her destination. To us it was like winning a mini lottery ! Yes Mumbai is always on the move but when it stops, it just doesn’t seem to move !
Working on Living 