Take a walk down its means streets and one gets the essence of Mumbai;
pause a while at one of its Traffic Signal and one gets the essence
of life. In a day scores of people go past multitudes of Traffic Signal's
scattered all over the city. People sitting in their vehicles impatiently
wait to get going. Through this waiting lasts but a few minutes it feels
like a lifetime to them. However unknown to them there thrives an industry
that derives its livelihood from these people waiting at the Traffic
Signal.
The work force of this industry is not less than that of an average
sized multinational. It comprises of a gamut of people thrown in together
by fate or hunger. There are oddities to the likes of eunuchs, handicapped
and impaired beggars, lepers, street kids, drug addicts, and prostitutes,
vendors selling flowers, fruits, sunscreens to sunglasses. Yet it doesn't
end there.
There is an intriguing world lurking behind all the poverty seen at
these traffic signals. Each signal is said to have a manager who collects
a certain percentage of the day's revenue from each of those working
at the signal. The pecking order broadens further and each manager is
supposed to hand over his weekly collections to the person who is in
charge of the region that covers a dozen or more signals. The ladder
is raised in its hierarchy and the collector of each region deposits
the money with the local Mafioso, (a local kingpin) who then ensures
that it reaches offshore to his master.
Traffic Signal is a story of one such signal, which is representative
of all other signals around the city. Silsila a young orphan, who was
born and who took his first tiny step at the signal is now its manager.
For him the Signal is his workspace and a home where he lived.
He is sensitive soul with a heart of good who considers the people
like his family. He loves all those working at the Signal, which in
a way is his family but would spare nobody when it comes to the collector
of his region. Both he and Jaffar work for the local Mafioso, Haji and
would even down their lives.
