New CM, New Era: Mumbai’s ‘spirit’ turns traffic woes into celebration for Maharashtra

Maharashtra has a new CM. Jai Maharashtra! The inauguration ceremony at Azad Maidan ground in central Mumbai was well-attended. Outsiders may have been surprised that as the country's commercial capital, Mumbai allowed itself to be restricted by, well, traffic restrictions on a usually busy Thursday. But, honestly, you can't have a Mughal-scale crowning ceremony without a few eggs broken - or diverted.

One aspect of any Ram Rajya, the original included, is celebrating that tag no matter what challenges a citizen may face. Mumbaikars plying in autos or flying in elongated musky cars may have felt the snarl of extra traffic yesterday evening. But no matter.

The famous 'Mumbai spirit', too, normalised the extra commuting hassle, while India anointed Maharashtra's CM. Mumbai Police traffic restrictions was all it took for Maharashtra's mahanagar to tell itself, 'Don't worry about us - break a leg!


We'll happily wade through the extra chaos just to see that our new CM gets a good 'sending-on'.' World cities must also go through this happy rigmarole when their chieftains are enthroned.