GOOD OL’CITY BUSES

Each one of us has taken a city bus [CB] at least once in our lives [or has been taking them for sometime or for a long time...].Some of us enjoy traveling in them but more often than not one hears the incessant ranting, cribbing and “bus mein yeh hua…bus mein who hua”.

One reason that’ll most likely top the list of “100 things to hate about CBs” [wonder if anyone can come up with so many reasons…then again, impossible is nothing] has to be that they are CROWDED/JAM PACKED and there isn’t enough place for BACTERIA to move. To top it all, people around can get annoying[er] by the second. Half of them [bus taking citizens] can be categorized under:

THE GOSSIPERS: They can talk about everything on God’s green earth and their general course of conversation starts from movie stars then moves to cricketers and then to ‘which friend of theirs is going around with, having a huge fight with, breaking up with another friend of theirs’.

THE ‘I-don’t-give-a-damn-about-anyone-else’ a.k.a THE RUDE ONES: These I cannot stand them one bit. They either have to shove you [feel like throwing them out of the bus] or have to stomp your foot with all their might [OUCH!!] or just go ahead and put their bags, rather forcefully, on you as it’s their sacred duty or something [um, have you ever heard of a little thing called MANNERS???] and DO NOT apologize!!

THE GROPERS: They are the worst of the lot. Ask any girl and she’ll vouch to having met at least one of these. They do not let any opportunity pass by and it’s disgusting to have to do anything with them.

Another reason that makes an entry in the aforementioned list is the system of allocation of separate seats for men, women, physically challenged people and senior citizens [found in most parts of the country, this is an honorable idea] but the problem is the fact that 9 out of 10 times, it’s not followed which leaves the physically challenged people and senior citizens, more times than we’d like to, standing or having to ask people for seats that belong to them in the first place[People, it’s there for a reason, respect it!!].

Not mentioning the “punctuality” of CBs would equal to not writing on my boooring neighbour’s boooring son’s boooring wedding [that’s another article for another day!]. Coming back to the CBs, all of them have to start within a gap of 3.43 mins [or even lesser] of each other and if you miss these buses, you’ll realize that it’s a bigger mistake than say, disliking chocolate and you’ll be stranded at the stop for a looong time.

Like everything has two facets, not all’s unendurable about CBs. De facto, they can be tres cool to travel around in. Returning to the human species, the other half can be classified into:

THE GOOD NATURED: These are a rarity. They give their seats to those who need it more than them [a small thing it maybe, but a kind gesture nevertheless] and help the others. I once saw a chap paying for someone else’s ticket because the later dint have enough money [again, not a huge deal, but the point is, how many of us would have done it?].

THE TALKERS: These, generally, are strangers that we start conversing with and sometimes end up having an interesting chat with! CBs are also great places to make friends and a lot of these friendships start with convos like these.

THE PECULIAR ONES: These people, if you are one of those people who like observing others, are a treat to watch. They either stand out because they wear clothes that are over the top or because are speaking non-stop on their mobile phones from the moment they get into the buses till they get down [I sometimes wonder if there’s someone on the other side].

Another important purpose that CBs serve, in a world that has become supersonically fast, is that it gives you time to spend by yourself. You can catch up on your reading or listen to songs or think through issues and sort them out. It gives you time to do anything you like without anyone questioning you.

This might sound like taking it a bit too far but CBs actually teach you to become more self-reliant and confident. You handle situations better [where else do you get first hand experience of tackling mean people better? Or not letting others intimidate you?] And the best part is as CBs aren’t really expensive, you get to save a lot of money and spend it on anything you like!!

Bottom line: CBs may not be the most comfortable or the easiest way to get around but they ROCK and I love traveling by THEM!!!