What a way to start my valentine day got up early morning @4.30 am packed bags for my travel .Did the first stupid thing moved in opposite direction to catch a BUS from a bus stop in suburbs of mumbai.Only good thing was there was no traffic; this is the only time in mumbai when you dont have traffic and you can travel from one point to another non stop.
But it was too early for me to be happy about my decision as i was informed that the next AC bus is after one hour and the only choice was for meto board a non AC bus.The temprature was cool enough so decided to take this BUS.After 15 minutes of waiting in the BUS the driver decided to start.The BUS was not only without AC but many others parts were missing, it seemed the engineers decided to design this one without shock absorbers.I felt like a rattle sitting on the recliner seat which can only bend down and refused to stay upright.
The journey had just begun and i was not prepared for the incoming surprises.
HALT 1: A bihari lady with a kid her daughter and her mother jumped in the bus and the sound decibles increased by 50 times .Women of three different genarations but one common trait noise pollution.The group took the four seats just behind me i was cursed.Early morning i was hearing the gossips and what happend in the tele serial last night.Within next 30 minutes of travel i saw landmarks of mumbai, such as shukla`s office in ello (yellow) building behind the tower;I could hardly see the top floor of tower how did they manage to see shuklas office i wonder.next was bantoo`s ekhjham (exam) centre,sheelas in laws house,mahinder`s college and the list is endless.Staying for more than 3 decades in mumbai i was not aware of this site seeing .Then the driver decided he will pick every possible guy on the road along with us.In next 10 halts the BUS was jam packed with no seats empty and i was surrounded by 4 regional channels (families)a marwardi couple for them abusing on phone on top of their voice was fashion,two gujrati brothers who would buy the whole stock market sitting in the BUS,a marathi family who cant stay without reading all newspapers aloud enough for them to qualify as new readers on national television.
Phew!!! i was not the yonly (only) victim to this chaos but the mallu guy sitting next to me with fractured hand was equally disturbed.We decided to talk and first thing he spoke was " no whone (one) has civic sense.Whilw we just got friendly and started to discuss further the BUS stopped at a hotel it was an official 30 minutes halt for passengers to eat breakfast.After 3 hours of journey and more than dozen halts we finally stopped to get ready for next 3 hours of journey.
It was blessing in disguise after breakfast most the them dozed off and suddenly i felt i started feeling the journey was a bliss as the view outside the BUS was so pleasent i opened the windows and cool breeze was flowing such beautiful scenery i missed my camera again.
With few more hiccups and many more abusive phone calls i finally reached my destination after 7 hours and the distance travelled was only 175 kms.
Atlast it was worth it when i reached my destination.
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Very nicely written.
ReplyDeleteI felt like saying: "zara hat ke, zara bach ke...yeh hai mumbai meri jaan..."
What was the destination and when will get the chance to read about rest of the travelogue?
~V
what a post on national integration :) sabhi region ke logon ne mil kar pareshan kiya aapko :D
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