Sunday, February 15, 2009

My Experience With Bus

Every Person would have been on buses to either School/College/Office/MTC. I have experienced/recollected some momentous funny experiences while I travel by bus. I always cherished the idea of traveling by train. Not just because of the cozy factor involved but I feel when I travel by a train especially in upper berths, I am sleeping in a swing with the Train whistle being my lullaby (hmm wish I travel in a train right away: P)

Being a kid, I rarely had an opportunity to travel by bus to school but the little I did was during excursions where we use to enjoy singing songs, playing pranks on friends everything under stern supervision of our teachers. Even during such occasions we would sit by the windows and yell out at people riding bi-cycles “அண்ணா/ அக்கா வீல் சுத்துது வீல் சுத்துது” :P. We keep giggling while they stop to wonder what had happened to their vehicle.

College Bus travel remains one of the best moments of my life. Traveling for nearly 2 hours on a National Highway without the disruption of buzzing vehicles is a real pleasurable experience :)During first year we got the taste of ragging in bus when seniors asked us to sing/dance near the backseats while the staffs doze off in the front rows ;) But later we did find good friends among them and enjoyed playing antakshari, listening to cricket scores while traveling, trying to imitate staffs, chatting on silly topics umpteen number of times :P which ended up in we people being more skilled in handling group discussions :P

We even went to the extent of proving people it is no big deal completing ED (Engineering Drawing) work in bus ;) Travel made us more proficient in reading books in bus, understanding course contents ;) during semesters, and more importantly learning tips for preparation of quicker dishes for breakfast/lunch! Wonder how ?? Having to take bus at early morning(??) 7.00 am we forced to have breakfast in bus and we end up sharing simpler such recipes from our friends as well staff members :) . Brings back nice moments, friendships shared also with staff members which came in handy many a time ;)


Four years after college I did regret that I would miss my bus travel :)! But bang I found the most notorious gang to travel to training center ! I was skeptical for a while concerned about company for girly talks as I was the only girl in the bus during initial days but god save all my friends were so good that we all shared a perfect wavelength. Fact is our company buses operating in our routes never had company logos. All we had was a verrrrrrryyyy tiny note displaying route number. Adding to the agony for few weeks we had a different bus operating on each day. It was really dramatic how we would identify our bus. Ours being the second stop from the start we hardly had a person boarding at first stop. As we were four people in our stop we used to make each one standing in say 20 to 30 m distance at 4 points. First position where one could spot our bus(???) arrival would be decided based on the sheer sharpness of a person’s eye. If the first person spots/ guesses that a bus which might pick us approaches our stop, he would alert the rest of the gang and we all would move closer to ensure if it is our bus(??) and boarded it. If it wasn’t our bus (bad luck huh :( ) we all would resume our positions and the loop continued until we boarded the bus :) (All Smiles -> Target Accomplished). Even this procedure was quite enjoyable as it was only for initial days as we could establish a more connected network by then Thanks to the CUG plans offered :)

Till date bus travel makes me really happy and when you establish a good friendship it becomes more interesting. Just imagine this it is almost 9.00 pm on a Friday Evening :( and as always though you wish to leave early but you are forced to stay due to stiff deadlines :(. You complete your code bang at 8.55 pm and send a status mail to onsite and you are already on your heels to catch the last bus at 9.00 pm . But poor you struck up at last floor you quickly make a call to your friend (who is already in bus waiting for you to join him/her ) and ask them to stop the bus. You enter the elevator, press the floor button. Huh you wonder to see so many such poor souls like you on every floor. Yeah your BP level shoots up. You could see people biting nails, trying to make call to some bus-mate (yet another soul receiving curses for delaying the start ) very well knowing that they could not make one until they come outside the elevator. Like the final countdown of a rocket launch you wait for the lift doors to open. Seeesh !! You see everyone making a rush from the elevator pushing people with a sole aim of catching the bus. You then realize what it means to be goal-centric/what is the definition of Hawk Eye ;) I can also afford to say “ To Know the value of Milli Second ask a person who misses the bus in spite of displaying wonderful sprinting skills “ ;)


Ah! I bet this being the most thrilling moment than a One dayer where it is win/lose and here case being you making it to bus/missing :(. Try to watch out for such moments next time when you are in rush to catch last bus. It would be thrilling for the moment but I am sure it will be 100% relief when you make it to bus with a beaming smile stuck to your face as if you have made it to THE MOON :)

MTC Bus Travel is still more interesting experience. But Personally I am more allergic to morning travel by bus because of டிபன் பாக்ஸ் சூடு you experience from fellow travelers :P. But it is also lively as you get to see more interesting people. Wish everyone have such memorable experience with a safe journey!!

19 comments:

  1. gils said...

    firsta??

  2. gils said...

    :)) furst velgum baack...embutu naalachu unga blog paathu :)

  3. gils said...

    thirumbavum formuku vareengannu teriuthu..egapatta smileys :) intha postila ivar evalo murai smile panirukarnu mini poatiye vaikalam :d

  4. Divyapriya said...

    me the first...:)))

  5. Divyapriya said...

    ohh no...not first? :((

  6. Divyapriya said...

    at last!!! Ramya is back with a bang with some of her finest experiences ;)

    too happy that u r back, hoping that u ll continue with same pace in blogging and nevertheless to say, commenting too ;)

    and abt the post, good one ramya...i've also had some funny experiences in bus n ur post did kindle all those memories :))

  7. தாரணி பிரியா said...

    WELCOME BACK RAMYA :)

    Tharani priya

  8. Vijay said...

    Hi Ramya,
    Welcome back.

    Bus travel to company is something I really miss now. In my earlier organization, I get 40 minutes in the morning and more than an hour inthe evening (thanks to Bangalore traffic) to spend time in the bus. That was the time, I would read some books. Now that the bus travel is gone I have to drive on my own and I really miss that time.

    The last minute rush to get into the bus is also something I used to enjoy a lot. imagine 4000-5000 people in a mad rush to catch the bus, the sight wouldbe more interesting than an usual bus stop.
    ரயில் பயணன்ங்களில் மாதிரி நானும் பஸ் பயணங்களில்னு நான் இன்னொரு சீரிஸ் எழுதலாம் போலிருக்கே :-)

    மீண்டும் ஒரு அஞ்ஞாதவாசம் போகாமல் தொடர்ந்து எழுதவும்.

  9. கப்பி | Kappi said...

    welcome backu!! :))

    sooper kosuvathi!! kalakals of madras :))

  10. Karthik said...

    Nalla post... Naanum clg la ED bus la varanjithu poven... Aana anda paper semseterleye thathi thathi pass aanen.. ithanikum 3 qns mere attempt... enna seiya inda moolaiku adhu theriyama, adhutha optionsa edhuthu pothuthen.... Ippa MTC bus la thaan poren clgkku... adhu clg bus travel vida santhosama irukku.. Foot board adhikardhu, bag ah edhavathu oru ponnu kita kodukardhu nu!!

  11. Sundar சுந்தர் said...

    welcome back!

  12. Karthik said...

    wow, welcome back!

    me too miss the bus journey i was used to in my school days. we used to impress our teachers by giving them the seats we were occupying. :)

    //டிபன் பாக்ஸ் சூடு

    this could be one such school boy like me.

    we used to give our belongings to some 'nice looking akkas' while standing in the steps. :P

  13. முகுந்தன் said...

    Welcome back Ramya!!

  14. முகுந்தன் said...

    //we used to give our belongings to some 'nice looking akkas' while standing in the steps. :P
    //

    Karthik,
    இது இன்னும் தொடருதா?

  15. Karthik said...

    //we used to give our belongings to some 'nice looking akkas' while standing in the steps. :P//


    Karthik nu peru vachaale ipdi thaan pola... :P

  16. Divya said...

    So very happy to c u bk:)))

    Welcome back Ramya!!!!!!!!

  17. Ramya Ramani said...

    @gils
    Thanks :) Hmm posting after a pretty long time so number of smileys have increased considerably :)

    @DP
    Thanks Again. Waiting for your hilarious post !

    @Priya
    Thanks Again!

    @Vijay
    Thanks Again!Yeah the break from blogging had been lengthier hope I blog at regular intervals from now on :)

    @Kappi
    Thanks Again!

    @Karthik
    Thanks Again!Welcome Too :)

    @Mukuthan
    Thanks Again!

    @Karthik
    Thanks Again!

    @Divya Master
    Thanks Again!

  18. sri said...

    Very well writtern especially the part in the lift trying to catch the bus, I take shuttle here too.

    College days I took MTC bus, It was not that fun though.Friends with good wavelength matching is really a blessing.

    romba nalla erukku, please keep writing

  19. Ramya Ramani said...

    @satish

    Thanks!

    @Srivats

    Thanks !