As the pandemic haunted Mumbai, the city’s iconic red fleet – BEST buses – ferried healthcare workers. After lockdown eased, it carried over a million people going to work even as its own staff battled the disease
It’s 3 am when Ashish Khilari leaves for the morning shift. He kisses his five-year-old son goodbye and dons his face shield, mask and gloves before stepping out into the pre-dawn darkness on a street in Kalbadevi in the heart of Mumbai’s commercial district.
Among the thousands of essential workers commandeered for duty, Khilari, 30, works for a team that literally keeps the wheels of a metropolis moving. The 2,000 drivers and conductors who operate the BEST fleet kept the trans