One person who gets tagged in almost all Covid-19 SOS messages in the city is politician and activist Ruben Mascarenhas. “The joke had been that if you need a bed in Mumbai, you ‘tag’ Ruben,” says the 33-year-old. While he is recognised as the go-to man in emergency situations, there are in fact large teams of citizen volunteers — students, working professionals — helping him mobilise medical aid and hot meals during the pandemic. 

At the peak of the second wave of coronavirus, when the healthcare system was overburdened and patients were struggling to find oxygen, ambulances, hospital beds and medicines, they sought assistance on social media. Whereas the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has its own war rooms -- run by school teachers, data entry operators, and doctors -- for emergency response, a helpline and non-profit launched by Mascarenhas have emerged as supplementary, and much used, services in the city. Behind the scenes of the latter efforts are regular people who work from their respective homes, pooling organisational skills, civic know-how, and elbow grease to keep things running.