Lights. Camera. RCNM.

A flash of green.  The screen of his ancient Nokia lit up. He answered the call. "Chacha, there's a malfunction on S.V. Road, Santacruz. You'll have to look into it." He sighed, gulped down his cutting chai and prepared to leave. He didn't mind being called "Chacha". He didn't have a name to begin with anyway. As he arrived at the crossroads, he noticed the all-too-familiar chaos. It always amazed him how the malfunction of a single traffic signal could throw hundreds, even thousands, of commuters into disarray. He had been fixing signals since 40 years and was now the go-to man in the Municipal Corporation for any and every issue regarding the 3 ruling lights of Mumbai's monstrous traffic. His proficiency at the job had earned him a lot of respect from his co-workers - which was something he treasured. He didn't have a family to love him anyway. Two traffic policemen arrived on the scene at the same time. Saluting th...

I happen to have experienced quite a few heart-touching incidents at the traffic signals. But there is one incident that will be etched in my memory for a long, long time.  I met a few kids near Prithvi Cafe, Juhu. At first when I saw them I considered them as random kids asking for money. But little did I know about what was coming my way in the next 45 minutes. These kids approached me at first and told me that they didn't want money because they would have to handover the same money to his father who would then use it for consuming alcohol and that they think is not be fair as that money would have been given by me for a noble cause. They said they are fine with sharing a plate of dal chawal with each other as they were hungry since morning.  They were hardly 10-year-old kids but the eyes with which they looked at the world really surprised me. I went ahead to buy dal chawal for these kids and while I insisted o...