Lockdown: Mumbaikars harrowing experience during first day at office

Mumbaikars share their harried experiences on the first day of extensive relaxations

After over 70 days of the lockdown when private firms began on Monday albeit with 10 attendance, thousands of Mumbaikars stepped out for their -first day of office-. For many, without Mumbai-s lifeline — local trains — getting to work itself was a challenge, as travelling by the BEST took forever. Some chose private transport. Equipped with masks, sanitisers and other protective measures, they stepped out with trepidation, which by the end of the day, had turned into confidence for some. Here-s how they faced the new -normal.

For the past 40 years, Jaswant Jani, 55, a resident of Mira Road, is the purchase manager at Roopam in Crawford Market, had been taking the local train to work. Jani usually took a 10.22 AM train from Mira Road station to Churchgate station, and reached his workplace between 11:15-11:30 AM. However, on Monday, when he went back to work for the first time since the national lockdown is being lifted, Jani had to change buses thrice and spend hours in queue at the bus stop with hundreds of other people, while they waited for their turn to board a bus. He finally reached work around lunchtime.

Jaswant Jani had to change buses thrice and spent hours in queues

"I left at 8:15 AM from home and took a BEST bus from Mira Road to Borivli," he said, speaking to mid-day over the phone. "The queue was really long at Mira Road station…there were at least 250 people waiting before me. I had to wait for half an hour before my turn arrived to get on a bus to Borivli. I got off on the Highway and arrived at the Borivli bus depot where there were at least 500-600 people waiting in different queues. I almost went back home after seeing the long lines but at least the frequency of buses was good. But I waited for 45 minutes before I could board a bus to Dadar."

Jani said that there was a system inside the buses: one person per seat and a maximum of five people were allowed to stand in the aisle. "I got off at Dadar at around 12:15 PM and then took another bus to reach my workplace near Crawford Market. In this case at Dadar, I had to wait only for 15 minutes to board a bus." Finally around 1 PM Jani set foot in his workplace. "I will now have to take the same route and the same mode of transport when I leave for home at 5.30 PM,- he
said.

A queue at Dadar TT for a BEST bus. Pic/Suresh Karkera

One injured in BEST bus accident

The bus was going from Navi Mumbai to Wadala depot

A BEST bus met with an accident on the Mankhurd highway on Monday. The bus was going from Navi Mumbai to the Wadala depot when it collided with a dumper. A 30-year-old passenger sitting on the front seat was severely injured and rushed to Rajawadi hospital.

-We wore masks, used sanitisers-

Vaijayanti Shirsekar is staying with her employer-s family

"While everyone was waiting in a long queue for a bus to reach Mumbai, I had started work in the morning – as the firm owner had arranged for my accommodation with his family," said Vaijayanti Shirsekar who moved in with them on Saturday.

Shirsekar works in a firm of around 15 employees which supplies auto parts of two-wheelers. Out of 15, five employees couldn-t join as they are stranded in various places.

"After the state government issued guidelines about reopening, the owner of the firm started preparation to start the business. The godown has been cleaned, sanitised and accomodation has been arranged for the male employees," she said.

"I look after the management of stock in the godown. I stay in Nerul, Navi Mumbai and couldn-t travel every day to the firm in Grant Road. So the owner asked me to stay with his family in Grant Road so that work will not disturbed. On Monday at work we maintained social distance, wore masks and used sanitisers," she said.

-No social distancing-

Snehal Lade-Reddy said people walking on the roads did not maintain social distancing

Snehal Lade-Reddy, a resident of Virar, spent over 2.5 hours to travel to her office in Andheri. "Many people were seen in their own vehicles and the Western Express Highway was crowded. Though the traffic was moving there was no social distancing among people walking on roads which was scary," said Snehal who was anxious to venture out of the house especially because she has a baby at home.

-If there-s a crowd, I won-t go-

Kaustubh Salgaonkar was tense about going to work

Kaustubh Salgaonkar, 22, a resident of Siddharth Nagar, Goregaon was initially tense about going to work from Monday. But once he started travelling towards his office in Malad, he thought it was possible to reach safely as there was not much crowd on the bus. "I began my journey at around 9 am and reached office by 9.45-10am. I had to change two buses but fortunately there was no crowd. But while returning I saw a rush on that bus stop so I started to walk. Thankfully the distance between my home and office isn-t much. But travelling is certainly an issue for those going to faraway places," said Salgaonkar, who works in the department of managing servers.
"Many from our office are still working from home but for some like me whose office presence is important, were called in the first lot. The office management will see how things work for few days to take the final decision. I hope that I don-t see a crowd on my route otherwise I will have to decide whether to go."

-Ended up working longer at home-

Ameya Tandulkar was apprehensive about going out but later he felt confident.

For Ameya Tandulkar, 32, who works in a real estate company, the day started with the apprehension of stepping out for the first time in nearly 75 days and ended with the confidence of being able to go back to his office again. A resident of Chembur, Tandulkar drove to his office in Khar west on Monday and was among the 10 people who were asked to come to work. "During the lockdown, we had Zoom meetings to set up strategies and now that we are coming back to office, its finally time for execution. On my way to work, all I could think of was the ways the infection could spread. But once work began, my fears dissipated and everything felt normal," he said.

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