Imagine for a second that a severe cyclone alert has been issued in Mumbai. The city is being evacuated, and the working class consisting of people like construction labourers have already taken trains and buses to their native villages in the hinterlands of Maharashtra, or Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, leaving their rented shanties behind. But you live in a tony sea-facing property that you own. Apart from your car, it’s the main asset you have. So, you’re reluctant to abandon it. But better sense prevails and you hit the road to leave the city, only to find that Linking Road, SV Road, the Western Express Highway and other such connectors are all choc-a-bloc with vehicles that have other middle-class people like you in them. The airports have no flights because of the impending cyclone. The trains are all booked out, too. What, thus, can you do? Precious little, points out author Amitav Ghosh in a new podcast that he’s a guest in, called Marine Lines, which journalist and author Raghu Karnad hosts.

Amitav Ghosh