Many people in other parts of the city chose to remain in offices rather than getting stranded on the road or putting up with strangers.
Despite the state government and private offices declaring a half-day, many from South Mumbai stayed put in their offices hoping that the rains would relent and the water-logged roads would clear after the high tide. Some of them formed a group to pool app-based cabs to reach places in the suburbs, like Borivali.
Kalpesh Thakkar, who works in the Bombay Stock Exchange in Fort, pooled a cab, along with his three friends, to reach their homes in Borivali. “Although our office asked us to leave by 3 pm, we waited to see whether the rain stops and the water starts receding. Then, I and my friends pooled a cab. It took us close to two hours to reach Churchgate railway station. While we left from there around 6.30 pm, we were able to reach Vile Parle by 8.30 pm,” said Thakkar who was with his friend Ravi Sheth.
A state government official said although a half-day had been declared in many offices, many people waited to see if the water receded after the 3.23 m high tide at 4.48 pm. “Many of us waited till 4 pm but then, we decided to head home. We were not getting buses for more than an hour. Some of our colleagues have returned to the office due to non-availability of buses and trains,” said the official.
Navin Rajpurohit, a radio jockey with Vividh Bharati at Akashwani, decided to go back to office after train services were suspended on the Western Railway. “My shift starts at 6 am and gets over by noon. Since there was some recording work, I was at the office till 4 pm and hoped there would be some respite. I thought that train services may resume after that. But the railway service did not resume,” said Rajpurohit who resides in Bhayander. He then headed to the office for the second shift. “My colleagues have not yet reached the office for the second shift. I will go for it and do my first shift tomorrow morning and then go home,” he said.
Many people in other parts of the city chose to remain in offices rather than getting stranded on the road or putting up with strangers. While placing an order for 30 plates of fried rice from a local eating joint, Swanand D, who works at the Indiabulls Finance Centre near Elphinstone Road, said: “Trains on the Central Railway are not running and the last time I checked, app-based cabs were charging Rs 1,100 to go to Thane. There are 30 people in our office. We are ready to spend the night here.”
He added that the restaurant delivery services were down because of the heavy rain and they had to make do with whatever was available. “We have been in such situations before. So our families are not worried yet,” he said.
