I make it to office!--1st July 2010

How happy I am to be able to write again! Nothing can describe it. Still ill make an attempt. For the past month work kept me busy. Writing on the blog took a backseat, as only emails were to be written now. Its quite cool here (in literal sense of course) and often I see quivering hands. But this entry is not about my office, It’s about my trip(s) to the office!
(since I want some sympathy) let me start with the fact that it takes me 2.5 hours every day each side, and after spending all this while doing nothing and changing three buses I reach my office on the 4th floor. Coming to the details, my bus journeys are obviously very tiring and exhausting! I never get a seat but I manage to grab a standing place near the window.
Every day while people might think am doing nothing in the bus, I often spend time indulging in music, and observing people. I see people sulking because of the heat, I see kids enjoying the breeze, I see the driver keeping note of the traffic, and I especially notice bus drivers competing with each other and strategically planning their way on the route.
So everyday I had the same (or may be not) experience. But today was little different. And so here goes the story

BUS 1:
my first bus journey approximates to about 15 mins-from my home to the main bus stop. Today I took a private bus (not DTC) and as soon as I paid for my ticket I noticed a DTC bus of the same route zooming by. I realized I wasn’t the only one, and even the conductor and bus driver had noticed their competitor. What followed was quite expected…the private bus driver seemed to forget his lazy way of driving and kicked the gear, the conductor of private bus shouted the route at the top of his voice trying his best to motivate the people at the stop to jump into the bus!
The two buses tried to overtake each other at every opportunity- red light, turns, bus stops and otherwise. And this had only one benefit-and the benefit was entirely to the passengers, for this trip was cut short to merely 7 mins..

BUS 2:
my next bus journey takes 45 mins..from lajpat nagar to Dhaula Kuan, and that is the time I listen to proper music, and try to catch a sleep. I love to read, but cant in moving buses, I feel dizzy, blame my nervous system. Today unfortunately I again got a full bus, but I know how to get work done. ;)
I stood next to the conductor seat, and noticing a ‘helpless, tired, exhaustive’ looking girl (that’s me) a ‘nice, decent guy’ (don’t know who) offered his seat next to the conductor. The bus literally emptied at South Ex but I dint care to really change my seat. So I sat next to the conductor and gained a first hand experience of sitting next to the conductor. Did I mention this one was a DTC bus today. And for those who aren’t aware, DTC buses have this system of making a mark on the ticket noting where the holder got on to the bus and where he plans to get off. Now this is really important because if the ticket checkers get on to the bus, and you are caught with a wrong ticket, well be ready to shelve away 200 bucks!
So for the next 45 mins I observed people getting on to the bus, getting their tickets, collecting the change and searching for a seat. The conductor would often crib when the passengers dint give change, but the passengers were often helpless in this case.
So after 45 mins of repeated action, Dhaula kuan came.

BUS 3:
my next bus ride is pathetic! Duration is more than 1 hour 15 mins, at the 1st bus stop itself the bus gets full, mine is the 5th bus stop so you can imagine, its full of men..stinking! and the bus has to get stuck in jam and atleast 4 main spots! Am talking about Dhaula Kuan to Gurgaon.
Today also when I saw the bus, it gave me an adrenaline rush, not because I was excited but because there was no spare seat in the bus, and so I had to make sure I make my way from back to front and get the place to stand near the window, where there is minimum contact with the sweaty men :p and I managed to get the place. The next one and half hour was unexpectedly super exciting today.

Incident 1: We had DTC ticket checkers getting onto the bus. They checked everyone’s ticket and found a guy who did not have a ticket. What followed were a series of explanations that were by the way so lame that it was obvious that the guy was lying. So he cried, pleaded, and even tried to jump out of the moving bus, but when the ticket-checkers are in the bus, absolutely nothing works! And the guy ended up being bet, paid a fine of 200 bucks and we ended up being late! (hmph)

Incident 2: Not every lady gets a seat, obviously! Not every man gets a seat (Even more obvious). So, it so happened that there was a lady standing next to a seat and a guy was trying to make his way from front to the back side of the bus because he needed to buy his ticket and no one was really ready to do it for him. So he made his way and his bad luck- he touched the lady standing there. Oh! That created one hell of a scene. Turned out that lady was a lady in terms of miss-touch-me-not but not a lady in terms of sophistication. She abused him like a guy, and cribbed like a woman. She shouted like a man, she wailed like a woman. She fought like a man and taunted like a woman. She threatened to call the police, argued, fought, called him names, and threatened him with all force. That carried on for another twenty mins as we crossed mahipalpur. That lady.. I can never forget!

Incident 3: As we reached the last bus stop before the toll, there was a rush of passengers into the bus. Suddenly it actually felt sophisticated inside. Then I heard a woman fighting with someone. I thought it was the incident 2 lady again. But I turned out to be wrong. Then it turned out that this girl (not a lady) had been standing in the front and passed money to another guy standing and asked him to pass it to the conductor. That guy passed it to someone else, and that someone else to someone else. Though the money was expected to reach the conductor it ultimately didnt! And someone in that chain had gotten off with the money at the bus stop (LOL). The girl ended up fighting with the conductor which I still fail to understand why!

Incident 4: yea this is the final one. There is a very fine saying—every dog has his day. After seeing so many stupid people, who would just fight/shout/and look idiots, now came my turn. As we crossed toll, and saw the jam in front of Ambience mall, I heard someone yelling at the driver asking him to take the bus from above the flyover rather than under. Now my office is under the flyover and I ended up in panic mode. A) I don’t know the ways around Gurgaon B) I was getting super late C) I felt unwell D) it was hot! E) the flyover ends way after my office.
So while that guy yelled asking the driver to take it from above, I decided to pioneer the fight of taking it under the flyover. As he shouted, so did I. a point came when we both were shouting. (:P) finally the driver took it from under the flyover and I was glad-turned out he dint do it for me, but because that’s the general route and he doesn’t have the authority to change routes. But I was glad atleast I did my bit for red alert ;)

And with that I reached office, and hopefully ill have a peaceful way back. By the way, I was so observant today because my office mate Anjali had my earphones!