Bus Rides

I do a lot of traveling these days. I always used to, but now I have to do so for work. As it is, where I work is about 15 km or so from my house, and then there's sundry going out and about to gather info, get photo-shoots organised, meet contacts etc etc...hence the traveling. Not that I mind, and that's probably because I'm still not sick of it. The upshot of it- as far as I'm concerned- is that I get to travel on buses. Yeah well, I can see many blanching at the very idea of someone avtually liking traveling on Delhi buses, but then again, you gotta be zen, or you won't like anything.
Let me tell you about some really nice/funny/dunno what things that bus travel afforded me to experience...

1. The seat with no backrest. Yeah, that was funny all right, and quite visually startling as well, when you consider that all the other seats in the bus HAD backrests. It threw people a bit. For starters, people couldn't figure out how to stand around it...see, te rationale for standing passengers is positioning, so that if someone nearby gets up, then you can beat some 3 other people to that seat...Now, as this pasrticular seat had no backrest, it opened up a bit of unexpected space. But you couldn't wedge yourself in there as it was still -technically- the seated passenger's place. So, people simply avoided it. To them it became a 'someone else's problem', and they happily gave it a wide berth. Lucky me, I got the seat...though subsequently I had to balance mysef by gripping on to the hand board as if I was windsurfing!!!

2. Another afternoon, I was returning from my friend's house near this place called Khan Market, when I caught a white line bus home. Its one of those which are always less crowded, due to the higher fares they charge. Anyway, another beautiful spring day, with the last echoes of a dull sun, and the trees gently swaying in the breeze. There were very few people on the bus, and by the looks of it, everyone was on their way home for a siesta, given the way almost everyone was nodding off. Then the driver- probably to stay awake- put on a tape of Kishore Kumar's greatest hits. It was one of those nice collections, with the cheesy stuff out. The effect on the passengers was like magic. Everybody started grinning, and the afternoon seemed to acquire a new glow. All the while that I was on the bus, some 5 songs were played, and everybody- including the driver, the conductor, and all new passengers- sang along, hummed along or just generally nodded their heads to the tunes and grinned from ear to ear. It was arguably one of my fondest experiences in the city.

3. What's a bus without some strange people. I can mention the religious ticket-checker or the sleeping conductor, but my favourite guy was this sadhu who hitched a ride one morning. He had no money, so he promised to entertain the driver in return for his passage. Which meant that he was only too happy sending himself up. Whether that involved hanging out of the bus window at every stop screaming "Cannoughttttt Placeeee, hahahaha! Chale ao chale ao!" or singing hindi film songs with modified lyrics praising the gods, or doing litlle tricks with his staff, which caused more consternation than entertainment. The charm wore off when he tried to crawl out the window of our bus and into another one....when the conuctor roundly abused him, he offered some hash as a peace offering. He was booted off nonetheless!!!