You always get told as a child: ‘Be careful what you wish for.’ Uddhav Thackeray, the child of Balasaheb, has experienced it first-hand ever since he wished for a Thackeray to be chief minister of this state. He became one, but at the cusp of a pandemic. Daunting as it might have been, he has largely done what a sane head of province should do — fight it with boots below, and fight it out with suits above.

Vaccine recipients wait at Akurli Maternity Home’s vaccination centre on April 24. Pic/Satej Shinde