"Your vehicle is polluting..", said the PUC officer. "What are you saying man, its not even an year old... aisa kaise ho sakta hai??", I asked him. " Get it serviced", he said. For a second I stood their numb and in morbid fear. "HOW WILL I GO TO OFFICE"...... the thoughts kept bouncing in my head till I took a few deep breathes and reminded myself of my days when I used to hang by the footboards of the buses....
I woke up early the next day and headed towards the metro station. In between I changed my mind and took a detour towards the nearest auto stand. I justified my stance to myself by saying, "I will get late if I take the Metro.. "... I did a quick math a realised that paying a few more bucks to the atuo driver, I was gettting a direct and comfortable ride to office. I further underlined my ridiculous justification by thinking, "this is my contribution to the sagging economy...".. Bullshit!!!
While returning I decided that I cannot be this ididot. I was not born in a car for god's sake. I decided to take an Auto to the nearest metro station. I dutched an auto with a colleague. As fate would have it, I had to abandon that auto and was left stranded near Dyal Singh college. With my slinging bag, I suddenly observed the people around me. A couple on the bus stop - the girl was crying and the boy had his arms around her trying to console her... it was cold was well....she started to smile... yeah.. may be he just whispered a joke to her.... a lady in her forties was sitting right beside them and was lost in some thought.... her purse was clapsed in her hands... she had lines on her forehead... the time read 7 pm....the glittering sign board on the bus stop across the road tried desperately to hide the tension in her eyes....there was one dude on the road, who was all wired.....his eyes closed, he was tapping the road with his reebok shoes....a few oldies rubbishing the state of indian politics and how it is going to dogs.....no female whatsoever...what is the state of delhi??...Is it no longer safe for women to travel by bus at night....Dont the lecherous and rowdies have no emotion at all - for gentle nice men like me who long for a romantic story line each time they venture into public transport be it bus, train or plane..... good god...
Finally a bus arrived... I "enquired" from the conductor, "Yeh, CP jaayegi.."... I boarded the bus and was greeted with the familiar seating arrangement....2X2...and of course the black pillars and the parellel bars on the roof....I stood near the conductor and sought a ticket....from a bunch of stapled tickets, he took out the ticket for me... punching out the bus stops, he handed over the ticket to me.......I took a seat and looked around......Did I say I "enquired"?... How could that be? there was hardly any route on delhi buses that I had not travelled.... Probably a few numbers of west delhi, but definitely not south delhi.... Priyas was our favorite hang out place... and I have been on this route numerous times..... I coudnt believe my own memory and my inability to associate myself with this fact...
As the bus chugged along at a gingerly pace, I was reminiscient of my college days... Sitting on the backseat, we used to roam around the roads of delhi with a free bus pass....my jukebox would dole out kishore hits and the others in the bus would join me as well... sometimes a pen salesman would enter and make a brillaint sales pitch, which I would mimic before a crowd and generate an applause and laughter......These theatrics were an ego boost.... or the time when I left my seat in a crowded bus , 'cause I mistook the lady at the front door as my Ex.......or the time when I was ragged for the first time by my college seniors......or the time when the exam next day did not deter me from paying a visit to Abhisek who had an accident........ or when I would marvel at Gupta's humility for travelling alongside us in buses.......or when Upasna would shout at men sitting on ladies' seat.......
As I deboarded that DTC, I thought of the people I had met along the way..... the bus for me is no longer a means of transport, for me its a time machine... and a leveller....."Never forget that you travelled in this bus, it gives you your ability to appreicate the comfort you enjoy today.. whatever little that you have..."
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