Dhondu Dattatreya Damle Doiphode, Minister of State for Transportation looked lovingly at his fleet of parked cars, with some annoyance. His eyes scanned over his prized Porsche, his two Mercs, the bikes — both the Kawasaki and the Yamaha. When could he use them again, he wondered- maybe he could steal away for a midnight drive. But, even then, he needed his convoy, and the last thing he wanted was for some hooligans riding alongside making Insta reels — he would have High Command to answer to.

The orders had come from above-austere living, alternative means of transport, save fuel, “don’t buy gold.” This “don’t buy gold,” and cutting back on jewellery, had his wife livid. She had to ask Gopichand the jeweller to cancel all the orders. She was displeased that all their planned foreign holidays had to be cancelled. That Schengen visa would go to waste now. Instead the thing to do, was to visit Tirupati and Siddhivinayak, but to get there he had to take a train. No, no, no, no. This was not good, these weren’t good times, and austerity just did not suit him.