My daily trip to M- city

People who work in Infosys, Mahindra City, Chennai and stay in the city face the trouble of traveling close to 50 kms everyday (Let me warn you thats the one-way distance). And we do that in this so called first class “Volvo buses”. It is indeed a very difficult journey but at times interesting too. Let me tell you some of the things that fascinate me in our bus journeys to office each day.

There are 3 of us who get on the bus from my bus stop- Mr K, Mr P and me. The bus reaches our stop at 6:45. I always manage to just run and catch the bus. I’ve timed everything that way; from waking up in the morning at 6, to reaching the bus stop just in time for the bus. If a minute is lost in some other activity, then I’d surely miss the bus that day. But interestingly, K and P although they stay farther than me from the bus stop, they reach a lot earlier than I do and even call me up and inform me when the bus is there so that I can run a bit faster! There are some “pointers” for me to know exactly how late I am. For instance, the bus with 'REC' (Regional Engineering college?? I thought they renamed it long back. Naah… This is Rajalakshmi engineering college :D) written on its forehead. If I don’t see the students from REC waiting for the bus as soon as I get out of my house, then I’d rather not walk over till my bus stop because the bus would’ve gone for sure. But there have been times when I’ve reached earlier than them.. ya maybe one or two times.. doesn’t really matter. Anyway the good thing is, K and P being perfect gentlemen, they let me board the bus first. Now you would be thinking why I would be considering that as a big privilege. That’s for the simple reason that our bus is almost full by the time it reaches our stop and it is really difficult to find a pleasing seat.

Now, our bus has 3 seater and 2 seater seats. The 2 seaters are always more comfortable because even if you don’t get the window seat, you’re right side is free and airy unlike the 3-seaters where you’d have to sit in between 2 people and bear their heat (No pun intended). As soon as I enter the bus, my eyes start wandering, looking for a 2-seater seat but I’ve never been successful in finding one all this time. That, my friends, is the first search criteria. The next one is finding a 3 seater with 2 guys in it. Now you maybe thinking what a flirt I am but hell no , its not my intense desire to sit in between two guys but the sole desire to sit in the end of a 3-seater cos it’s a lot cooler there than the middle seat. Generally the guys will be courteous enough to offer the end seat to a girl rather than making her sit in between them. But these days, guys are really frank and they tell you, “I’m a lot more comfortable sitting in the end. You may please sit inside” and they move and offer you the middle seat!.. real sad thing you guys!..

Then the next criteria I look for is to sit in between 2 really slim people. But here too my search often turns futile cos hello… we‘re talking about software engineers who sit in their seats and work for 10-12 hours a day with very small breaks. We are expected to at least have a paunch. (NOM guys. I’m one among you). Ok the point is after using all my analyzing skills so early in the morning, I’m exhausted and finally find a seat of my choice and settle down. It’s a sad thing that K and P end up sitting in the last seat almost everyday! I think they’re really used to and love the last seat bumpy rides by now. I’m sure I’ll lose my privilege of getting into the bus first the moment they read this! So shhhhhhhhh…. ;)
During my first few journeys in the bus, I used to listen to some songs, read a book or a newspaper, call all those people I haven’t met in a while and chat over the phone (remember this is at 6:30 in the morning. They sure would have cursed the hell out of me for waking them up so early). All this, to kill time. But finally I realized the best way to do it was to just sleep and interestingly more than half the population in the bus would agree with me. The next hurdle is to find the right position and just sleep off. Sometimes I manage to get it fast although there have been very frustrating times when I’ve had to stay awake throughout the whole journey and probably stare at someone who’s sleeping peacefully with utmost envy. Although most people sleep through the journey, if the driver steps on the brakes a bit hard, almost all of us wake up cos of the jerk and you can interestingly see a lot of heads popping up from all the seats anxiously to see if we hit the vehicle in front. I can’t forget this time when I got a place in the first seat. Its almost like the driver is envious of all the people sleeping when he has to navigate the bus through intense traffic. He keeps honking so loudly at regular intervals. I remember I even tried to find a rhythm for his honking, trying to match it with a couple of the latest movie songs! It sometimes works you know.

Another thing my friend tells me is the way people sleep. I have a friend Miss B, who never ever sleeps in the bus. Kudos to her. She doesn’t like it it seems. I don’t understand that but she tells me it’s funny to watch people sleep including me. People sometimes sleep with their mouths wide open, jerk from side to side, lean on you completely (dreamin' of mommy???girlfriend?? boyfriend???). I’m glad I haven’t seen anybody drooling till date! Recently K was telling me ‘Hey Paru, my friend was sitting next to you the other day and she said you were sleeping on her shoulder!’. I reacted to that with a slight embarrassment; when he told me later on he saw both of us leaning on each other! He even told me he has taken a picture as proof. Now why the heck would i need that. i believe you completely man. That is something that I see in the bus myself!

Another interesting thing I see is the way some people cover their hair with a cloth. I presume it is to prevent the wind from messing it up or probably to prevent all the pollution in the city from dirtying it. Anyway some people tie it up ‘red riding hood’ style, some like a bandana and some who are more conscious of their health tie it to cover their mouth and nose. But generally I end up looking like I came out of a twister or something by the time I get out of the bus!
Anyway these are some of the things that fascinate me in my one and a half hour bus journey in the morning. I really couldn’t sleep in the bus today morning which is why I wanted to get all this on paper. I hope at least some of you can relate to it.