Today I woke up at 8am - the beginning of morning peak hour in Mumbai, and for some reason I couldn't help dozing off to the alarm and enjoying the blissful state of a mini-vacation in this chaotic city. My room faces the main road which is off the Western Express highway, and usually even with the windows shut, I can hear the beeping and thumping of cars and bikes and the plethora of autorickshaws chugging along the roads.

As I gained consciousness, it hit that today there is a strike! And all the autorickshaws are parked away and abandoned..millions at a time! And all the taxis were also parked away, the bulky ancient automobiles lined up - one after the other. Though it seems like a peaceful start to the morning, once the news hit - I realised how many people, how many jobs, how much movement in this city of approximately 13 million (and probably more as so many migrants are unaccounted) has been stalled.