At 3 am on Tuesday, Hareshwar Tandel woke up. Never in his life, he tells me, had he bathed so early, but he wanted to reach the bank early this morning.


"I reached the Bank of Maharashtra at 4.30 am, the first person in the queue. I drank three cups of tea by 8 am," he adds. "I have to go to work at 10 am."."I need money because there is a wedding in my sister's home, and I have to give her Rs 10,000," he says."For my son's wedding my sister had given me a Rs 50,000 loan and I have to return her money now. The marriage is on Saturday, November 19," Tandel adds. He had tried to withdraw money on Saturday, but failed to do so.


Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com meets the 1st person in the queue at a few ATMs in Mumbai.  Read