of buses and fusses !

Being the bubble wrapped daughter of my parents I was never used to the typical Indian mode of commuting – The Great Indian Buses….until o’course I joined college…And buses are the best ways to make a trip to that pal’s place or to that neighbor town where you can catch a movie with ur buddies and get the ‘despicable person’ tag around your neck after the insti figures out what you’ve been doing! Well lets not get into that,for the moment! 😛

So where were we.. Yeah.. Since I was never used to this mode of transport,I was excited when I got to travel by bus as a regular.As days moved I got hit by the harsh realities of a typical bus commuter’s life aboard the bus…Conductors brushing past the people for issuing ticket (when I experience this sick issue system I truly feel India is underdeveloped 😦 ) Have you ever been shouted @ by a bus driver for no reason at all?Did it ever happen to you to have only a 100 INR note and the driver refused to let you get on because he “had no change”?Have you had enough of this? I have !

A truly overrated picture that I found at a Yankee’s blog.I couldn’t  help fuming over the post.Here’s a excerpt –

” Child: What bus? All I see is a big pile of Indians!

Man: That’s what Indian buses look like. Indians are too cheap to pay for a seat, so they sit on the roof instead. Come on inside, we have the whole bus to ourselves!

Child: This ride is so bumpy! Aren’t there any roads in India?

Man: There’s only one, and it isn’t any better than this.You can’t drive fast on it because around every corner there’s a herd of holy cows.

Child:Wow – this place is horrible. And to think that an Indian movie just won all those Oscars!

Man: They must have had a quota or something. Indians movies are boring – no car chases, not even any kissing. And they’re mostly cheap knock-offs of western entertainment. For example, notice how all their music is ripped off from the Beatles. *** set of youtube links follow *** “

:O I know that most parts of the conversation is true..but to hear from another national is truly an embarrassment !!! Trivia : London bus drivers are rated the worst in the world!

Last week I was at Madurai city,and was taking the local bus to my friend’s home 15 minutes away.As I hopped onto the bus,I luckily got a seat near a lady(Note to international readers :; : In India people don’t sit near a person of the opposite sex,cos that is considered saucy and not right.*beats me!*),the conductor of the bus(BC) made his way up front to issue my ticket..As i was running a little short of money..I was counting my coins and gave him some change which happened to be exact..and the BC’s reaction completely left me amazed – This guy actually said ‘Thank You’,which was something I’ve never encountered before from a BC & therefore swung back and asked ‘huh??’ BC said ‘Thank you for giving the exact change *smile* ‘ Wow-Change does makes people other than obama happy! 😀 Grinning at the BC, i thought – things are getting better!And the world would be a better place only if everybody was courteous! BC ‘s are not the only persons who should learn what that means.. Fellow commuters who shove each other for getting aboard,getting a place to sit,ignoring the 3 legged people that travel along with us – everyone shud learn. Change begins in thy heart,as charity begins at home.

In a lame attempt to make a haiku that actually rhymes 😛 :

Buses don’t derange

Buses are cool

Unless you carry change

you are deemed a fool !!

Feel free to write what you think about the Indian Bus system in the comment section!Even though I’m pretty certain this isn’t going anywhere…atleast I’l get to know varied opinions 😛