29 C

Bus travel can be very tiring, especially on a sweaty summer day and that too, right after a three-hour coaching class. Nevertheless, I walk slowly towards the bus stop thinking about Lays packets and coffee. It can hardly be called a bus stop, since it gave absolutely no indication that it was so. The crowd of people who are waiting impatiently there tell me I'm at the right place. 

If you people came here seeing its about "buses" in hopes of learning how my hand snapped into two in detail, sorry to disappoint you but this is just another boring daily life post.

The Stop...... 

I get there and start waiting. This was actually a completely lousy bus stop and I'm not talking about the overturned smelly dust bin right beside it. Half the buses which go to my place are filled with ego and don't stop in small bus stops like these. I can go wave at them all I want but they don't feel the need to stall the traffic for a sweaty, helpless child (*Cough*) And those who don't stop happen to be the new models, deluxe buses, white-boards, whatever you call it. Definitely ego. Who needs them anyway? They're pretty much the same except for the cool yellow hook-like things to hang and swing on. But they're definitely not worth the five excess rupees.

I turn around to look at one of the shops. Maybe someone there sells orange Lays Packets? I turn back to see an A1, Air-Conditioned gliding past.  No! I just missed my jolly AC-ed ride home. True, the A1 doesn't stop here, but he is not as egoistic as the rest. He being a sweet fellow stops when I wave my hand. (Actually, AC buses stop because they don't get enough money to run and are glad to accept more passengers at any time but I won't tell you that. It'll spoil all the fun. Besides, I like AC buses. Hey. You are not reading all this written in brackets right?)

I continue my wait. I stare longingly at an auto then shake my head. Impossible. Treacherous rates. Then, finally, a bus appears in a distance in the smoke of the traffic. I maneuver through the crowd trying to get in front. I see the number. 21. I go back to my original standing place. Annoyingly, this bus which doesn't go to my place stops for a full minute at this bus stop. After a lot of shuffling, an old lady who just climbed out of the bus suddenly talks to me,

"He-ey. Will you get me across the road please? I want to go to that side"

I stared. Totally Blank. My brain exploded into three parts and each one was racing. 

Part One was saying, Okay, this lady is really old and alone. I'm not in a hurry anyway. Maybe I should.
Part Two was saying, Oh what the hell lady? There are like fifty people around and you had to go dump the trouble on me? 
And Part Three was wildly inventing solid excuses that I could give her which are satisfactory and does not make her search another person after leaving  with an angry "hmpf".

My mouth managed to say,
"Uhh...um" for all this while.

Then, a man, about twenty, apparently working, said,
"You want to cross the road lady? Here. Come with me"

Saved! **Phew** Thank you, person, whoever you are. What would I have done if that person had not turned up? Would probably have provided her the solid excuse and gone on to hide in some unnoticeable corner of the bus stop. I felt half ashamed, half guilty. All of a sudden, those Panchatantra stories where the god disguises himself as an old person and asks for help and punishes people who are heartless. The things old people can do to you. God.

I still haven't gotten into a bus! Before I can think anything, another voice:
"He-eey"
I turn.
Old guy. Looking like he lives in the bus stop. About eighty. Oh no. Now what?!

"You see the poster here?", he said, pointing at the piece of paper stuck on the side of the shop.
I look at the "poster". It was a contact lens advertisement, showing five eyes, each wearing a different coloured lens, making the eye look blue, green, brown.. etc.
Okay?
"They've displayed all this, but they don't say which one is good. All this is simply for show. I've been thinking about it for a long time."

Brilliant. Simply great. Here I am waiting for ages to get home, and a random guy decides to make conversation about criticizing Varilux contact lenses. I simply grin. I hear a low rumble and a squeak of a horn that can only belong to one vehicle. Finally! A darned bus! Saved again, from the wrath of old people. A 29 C. Yay! Oh wait, you better stop here. It did stop. It is overcrowded. I couldn't care less. I have this curious sort of affinity towards 29Cs, simply randomly liking them. I mean, they're just cool right? (:P) I get in, fingering some coins from the wallet and holding them before I do so. Who knows what can happen when you try to take your wallet out in that crowd.

The Bus.....
Okay, I'm in. I get to the middle of the bus. No breathing space at all. But it isn't so bad since I can actually turn around and move my hands. I look at the coins in my hand. A 50p and a 5 Rupee coin. A gold 5 Rupee Coin. No, I'm not wasting that. I collect those gold ones. But, "Ticket Ticket?", the voice which doesn't know to speak anything else said.
I handed over the gold reluctantly and pocketed the bus ticket. 

I hold the horizontal and the vertical bars for support, putting most of the pressure on my left. Right, was still volatile. I look at the graffiti on the bus walls.





"Something something Roxxxxxxx" (It had more "x" that that)
"I love you someone someone. Signed: Someone someone" (Thu :P )
"We are awesome!! Signed: Someone someone someone"

One word. Jobless.

Suddenly, the bus applies brakes, approaching a speedbreaker, or a red signal, I don't know, but I involuntarily grab hard with my right and it stung. Badly. No damage done. Its too much to have two consecutive injuries in the same vehicle in the same limb.

Then, a guy from behind bumps into my bag and smiles sweetly and apologizes for it. Highly abnormal activity. People in overcrowded buses in Chennai never smile sweetly and importantly, never apologize. Pickpocket?  I suddenly become very aware of the phone and the wallet, touching both of them every three seconds to make sure they're there. Atleast my right hand has something to do now. The guy takes out a phone, a Samsung Galaxy, and goes through folders for no reason (Yes, I was peeking into it) Then, he takes out another phone, a Sony Ericsson Xperia (WTH?!) and meddles with that too. Who is this guy? Suicide Bomber with a bomb in his cell? Without warning, he pocketed both the phones and got down at the red signal. Phone and wallet still there. I am still alive. No harm done.


Strange things don't stop happening. Another woman, some high class personality who looked completely out of place in that local bus is trying to ask someone to get a ticket for her. I hate people who ask me to do that. I face the other side and give and expression of being completely absorbed in seeing the scratches at top of the window. Too Late.
"Hey!!! You.... YOU. Get a ticket to Besant Nagar"
I ignore completely knowing perfectly well that it is me she is calling. There were about ten other people who she could have asked to get the ticket. All the rotten luck. Apparently I was the only who looked  bully-able.

"What the hell do you think of yourself?"
Uh. What?! I turn around.

"Don't you have the courtesy to turn around and look at the person when he or she is talking to you? Is it so difficult for you to give the money to the conductor and get one ticket? I am a teacher and I know you are a student. These are extremely bad manners", she fumed. 

Get your own ticket you lazy bum. 


I shrug and give her the "what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it?" stare. She decides to get it herself after making all sorts of angry noises. And she promptly trips and almost falls right on someone.
"Watch where you're going lady", said some nice guy.
Ha! 

Destination almost reached. The rotten smell of the river tells me that. I move to the front of the bus near the stairs. After sometime, the bus is almost there. 
Another man:

"Move it. Why the hell are you standing here if you're not going to get down?"

"I am going to get down here thank you"

"O.....h"
**Bulb**

The bus screeches to a stop and I quickly get down  before something unfortunate happens. What a day. I watch as the four big wheels carry the huge structure out of sight. I walk home, tired.