‘More people drive rashly on Diwali’
There is nothing interesting about my Diwali,” says 30 year-old traffic cop Sameer Parab. In the six years that he had served the Mumbai Traffic Police, this father of a two year-old daughter doesn’t remember a single festival day that he has spent at home throughout. “I know I won’t reach home before 10 pm,” says Parab, who has been manning the traffic flow at Parel.u00a0Though he aches to be with his wife and daughter at their Worli house on the day, he will be on the field and expects a regular schedule.u00a0“It’s just that on days like Diwali, a lot of people drive rashly and we have to be on the lookout for them. Also, there are people who burst firecrackers on the road and we have to ensure that traffic stops for that time and there are no injuries,” he adds. u00a0Other traffic officials added that they also conduct drunken driving checks during the festival, which will add two more hours to their duty. “There are 96 officers under me and none of them have asked for leave,” said R Gidde, senior police inspector, Bhoiwada Traffic Police Station.

Illustration/ Amit Bandre