“When it rains heavily, I always think of the 2005 floods. I was stuck under the Parel fly-over with a man who wanted to reach his home in Ghatkopar. The water levels were so high, we couldn’t even open the cab door to get drinking water but people started passing vada pav and water from car door to car door until it reached all those who couldn’t reach food stalls. In my 40 years of driving a cab, I’ve never seen Bombay come together the way it did during those days — there was no rich or poor, just humans trying to help each other in any way possible.

My passenger and I were stuck in my cab for over 10 hours and during that time we spoke about a lot of things — from our families to our dreams. There were no barriers as he candidly told me about his life and I told him about mine. As the conversation went on, one thing became clear — we came from different social classes but all we both cared about was getting home to our families.

As the water started clearing the next morning, I decided to go to drop him to his family in Ghatkopar even though my house was nearby…I don’t know why but I felt responsible for him. When I did, he thanked me over and over again, gave me extra money even though I tried to refuse and said he would always remember me. I don’t know about him, but every time it rains, I think about that night and how a flood unknowingly brought us all closer together.”