“Why so tired, Pheroze? Were you engaged in some kind of strenuous activity?” Lady Flora asked her friend whose forehead was splattered with beads of perspiration. The facemask was making it tougher for him to breathe, she could tell. “Oh, that’s because of so many errands I had run that dare I say, has knocked the wind out of me. You see, the Ganesh festival is coming up, and our neighbourhood is doing its best to keep it a quiet affair, what with all the pandemic-related guidelines and safety precautions. But the missus is doing her bit to help the little ones in the area with simple art and craft DIY décor for their home idols. She used to teach craft at her school back in the day, and now with all this talk about keeping the environment as topmo87uuuuuuuuuuuuuust priority, she is enjoying her second stint as a teacher using waste-free ideas,” he smiled, genuinely pleased at his wife’s exploits, despite the umpteen requests that dragged him out of home on a very wet Sunday morning in September. This year, the call to reduce plastic waste generated from décor has been louder, and Sir PM and the wife were keen on spreading the word in the neighbourhood in their own little way.

“Since you are in the know of these things already, tell me, Pheroze…how do you think the city will react to the festival season this time? Last year, Bombaywallahs gave all festivals a miss for very obvious reasons but I am hearing how with the opening up of life, authorities have a new set of headaches,” a very curious Lady Flora asked her friend. Sir PM took a few moments to gather his thoughts and then replied, “You see, Lady…we are not entirely sure what this ‘Third Wave’ will bring, and with that in mind, I hope certain systems are in place and a strict check is kept on safety protocols,” he reasoned, trying to sound every bit the lawyer he was in his heyday.