I Need A Normal Trip Home !!!

You might have read the last few unintentionally and inconveniently funny trips I had home. This weekend also the story was more or less the same. With a difference - it was not KSRTC or the rain God made it. It was solely me.

Usually I take the 6:30PM bus. Wednesday, because of the long weekend rush I got ticket for 4:30 bus. Unfortunately the 16:30 time on ticket, I read as the usual 6:30 and planned to leave office accordingly. Only at 5, a casual look at the ticket told me the truth - my bus has left Bangalore ! Misery loves company. And my whole team was in action at once. Teammate Unnikkuttan gave me the brilliant idea of taking it from another point, and we can take a shortcut to reach there before the bus, thanks to the traffic blocks of Bangalore.

We hit the road in an instant and I was trying to call the information center numbers given in the ticket to check where the bus is. One eye was on the ticket and the other on my cell. Expectedly, none of the four numbers were reached. Cursed, I look up to see how Unnikkuttan rides. In the excitement of catching bus, I completely forgot his reputation of being fast and furious driver. He was shifting from left to right and back  avoiding potholes, traffic and what not ! That moment I was ready to walk home but to get down from the bike. I didn't want to look chicken, so I kept rooted to the seat and typed 108 and kept the thumb on call button, just in case. So that I can call emergency and tell 'Sir, send an ambulance for us!'.

Within 10 mins, we reached the stop. Unnikkuttan took off the helmet and flashed all 32 admiring his skill! Then I got a call from office saying my bus was through another route ! My going home was necessary. So I decided to go to the interstate bus station, in the other side of the city. Unnikkuttan was thrilled to hear it. Ample opportunity to show his skills ! He flashed 32 again and put the helmet again. I tried to look as sad as possible and told him ' I would love to go there with you, but your skill is very much needed at work. So I will take a bus. Thanks for the ride mate'. He was disappointed and me relieved.

I reached stand around 6:30. I checked a couple of buses and they were full. Thinking of taking the 9PM ordinary bus and was about to leave platform, my angel came. With the footpath aviator and mouthful of pan, he was walking in slow motion with an ear to ear smile. ' You want to go to Thrissur ?'
'Yes' said me.
'Single ?'
'Single, going to be mingled soon'
'No problem. You will get the seat in the 6PM bus.'
'Sir, I want to go tonight and it is already 6:30'
Then the angel told me that the 6PM bus got some starter problem and it is expected to leave anytime. I gave him Rs.500 for a 380 ticket. He accepted it gratefully!

Though I was afraid that the bus may break down in between, it didn't happen. The roads were  more or less empty too. The journey was nice, and I reached Thrissur, before the bus I was originally planned to take. And to my surprise when I was getting down angel gave me Rs.70 back. World is not that bad.

I do hope my Sunday journey back to Bangalore will be without any fun. I need some trips that way...

Another 'Different' Trip To Home

I always like the trips to home.  Many of the times, it will be different than the routine trips, in the wrong way though. The trip last week ( for Onam ) was one like that. One I really wished I didn't had...

Because of the rush, I didn't get tickets in my usual 6:30 Karnataka KSRTC Rajahamsa, I got to get into the Kerala RTC bus. Though it claimed Super Deluxe Air Bus, it was anything but airy ! Both the buses, to and from Thrissur, were poorly maintained. The KL 15 7116, which was the one took me back to Bangalore was pathetic. The seats were untidy, the whole bus was rattling. The overhead luggage shelf was wide enough only to slide a laptop bag in ( for both buses ). There was a hole in the roof above seat no 35, and I enjoyed the cold rain all the night. Worse, the metal lamination sheet under the luggage space was hanging loose and I was afraid anytime it will fall on head.

The trip to Thrissur was ok till we reach Mysore. It started on time ( 4 PM, I liked it ). This was after a long time I took the Mysore road and man, it was nothing less than a trip to hell. No wonder Bangalore Mirror chose it the worst road in the city..

From Mysore, 4 elderly gentlemen boarded the bus, despite there was no seat. I thought of giving my seat to the eldest, but thinking it will keep me standing for good 6 hours and those guys always had a choice of taking the next bus, I decided against it :) After a while they were all restless, and one among them vomited inside the bus !!! The driver and conductor became furious ( naturally ) and asked them to get out to do the needful. He did, got in and after sometime did it again !!! The good part is there was one guy who was sober and cleaned the bus at the station.

There was one interesting thing happened. We were crossing Bandipur forest area, and suddenly the bus stopped. There was a small elephant herd in front of our bus, including a baby. The baby was careless, took his sweet time to cross the road. The mommy elephant was vigilant and looking us with her ears open wide. I was expecting her to charge at us any time !!! I felt we should ban the traffic through the forest entire night, so that at least the nights the animals can claim the forest theirs !

The return journey was at 11PM, and supposed to reach Bangalore by 10AM. But, thanks to the Onam rush and no free platform at Thrissur, the bus started a good 20 minutes late.

The next incident was classic, I never seen anything like that. Again, an old man was the hero. He slept and missed the stop where he had to get down ! He started blaming the conductor, for sleeping and didn't wake him at the stop ! The driver and conductor first started heated argument, but then softened as this guy was adamant that the bus should reverse and drop him back to the stop! Because he knew that, as the forest road closes in the night, no vehicle will come from the other direction. The pace of the journey was drastically reduced because the driver was also trying to convince the old man to get another bus back home. The argument lasted very long, that I slept in between ! I don't know how it ended.

The argument made the bus reaching the forest checkpost late and needed to wait there. Precious time wasted ;) But it gave a peaceful sleep :) We resumed, only to get a flat tyre soon ! In the last five years I took Kerala RTC buses hardly six times, and this was the third time the tyre went flat. Too bad Kerala RTC..

Reaching late to the city made things worse. The Mysore road, being busy at the morning hour made things worse. The 10AM bus at last reached by 0130 PM !!! I reached home 2:30, precious one day was wasted...

Next time, I will go with Rajahamsa. They made take an hour or two extra, because of the slow driving and tea breaks, but that will be the most they do. The buses are comfortable, at least...

Being Invisible In The Crowd

I got one more reason to like my trips home. Incidentally it is in these trips I am getting most ideas for posts! Last trip also gave me idea for a post.

I reached the stop much earlier, or was it my bus late once again... As the only few seat at the stop is taken, I went to the lower compound wall of the Tata showroom and sit in the shade of a tree. I checked for any crows above, and found only a few kites flying high. I need to be careful not to be the potty for a crow. Incidentally in Bangalore crows are very less. And it makes the cry of the crow back home nostalgic ! The place where I sat was very low. Which I would have not considered any other day, thinking it is dirty. But today I need a place to sit and this serves that purpose. And the best part is, the lower stance give me a totally new perspective ! And I liked it, the new view. I was sitting in the middle of crazily busy street with people rushing all around me. Still, nobody gave me a second look. Nobody cared for my presence. It was like I was ceased to exist. I became invisible. And I started looking at the world around me, as I was watching a movie on a screen...

I saw a beggar giving final touches to his broken leg make-up. Kids made to dress like adults. Most of the people and lost either in a cell conversation or music. One lady was talking to the phone and with the other hand closed the free ear, may be to ensure the golden words not escaping through it... People chewing pan and spitting everywhere. ( may be where I sat too, but the rain last night should have washed it away, I don't want to think about it ). There were two kids trying to cross the busy road, but was too afraid that they take two steps back for every one forward. All kind of vehicles. Cars of every make. Trailers with many tires. One car being towed away. The time was flying, but I was lost in the interesting drama on my screen.

More people joined me in the wall. Most of them were checking watch every minute and cursing for the late bus. And then I spotted my bus on the screen. Time to end the show. I left my comfortable seat and joined the crowd. To be the part of show someone else is watching...

What A Trip !

One thing I like about my routine escapes to home is the bus trip. Though most of my family and friends wonder how I manage the 10 hour a side trip, I never felt it difficult. Once I learned the trick to sleep in the moving bus, everything was easy. But the trip to home this time, made me, forced me to think again about it. Both up and down journeys…

Friday it was raining in Bangalore. Not heavy at all, but steady and long one. The ill-drained roads flooded in no time. Hardly a kilometer journey from my office to bus-stop took more than 45 minutes. I should have understood the clue and prepared for what lies ahead from that itself…

It was mayhem all the way. The bus which never fails to reach on time every time I was just-on-time days was not on time. I was 20 minutes early that time, just to be sure. And the bus came a whole 3 hours late ! Waiting at the  ill-maintained bus stop - no chairs, no proper shelter from the rain and wind, made it more difficult. There was a small boy waiting and he was shivering despite his dad’s over sized jacket covering him. The overflowing drains and damaged road made the bus late. The traffic was horrible, and the driver was too soft on the throttle that he never bothered to move fast, even on empty stretches.

But, home and lovely food by mom made all those frustrating things forget.

Return journey happened on time. And with this high speed AC bus, I planned  some sleep in proper bed too. Only till I realize things were planned otherwise… it got a flat tire on way. No big deal, till we realize the bus guys were ill equipped and ill experienced with it. And the shower made things go even slower… I tried to find a positive thing about it and found one – around two hours in a non-moving bus, I was able to sleep well !

Somehow by the time it reached Bangalore, it was 3:30 hours late. And then the ultimate hiccup – the door was jammed ! It was not opening and with the screw driver and spanner slided through the small opening on the top of the door, somebody removed the lock to open the door ! Another 20 mins wasted on road. But it was not home I was coming to. Late to office only made my day, well, more dramatic.

Thinking back, I don’t regret much. Because the 4 days spent at home was worth it