Today, a clutch of cabbies in the city plan to protest the government’s indifference to their demand of taxi stands in a novel way. They plan to turn beggars for a day, holding out begging bowls for the public to shell out some money, in order that they can start making stands of their own.

The gesture is, by and large, symbolic, but the message is clear: We are desperate to get taxi stands and if we don’t, we would hold large-scale protests to press our point.