Travelling in a KSRTC bus
Harrowing… Traumatic… Suicidal… Revolting… AWESOME!!!
I mean it. It really is awesome. I happened to travel by a KSRTC bus in the western ghats a few days ago. And I loved it. The view was unparalleled. I was left wondering why people even bother to go to the swiss alps when you have such a beautiful place right here that can be visited at a thousandth of the price.
But that is not what I ‘enjoyed’ the most. What I enjoyed was just the feeling of sitting in the bus. The environment in a bus is that of India at its secular best. It’s a wonder how people manage to squeeze themselves like the idiomatic sphagetti. Fat men, old women, excited children, bawling babies… All of them shed their inhibitions and try to cram themselves into the atomic spaces between people. What results is a single body responding to the motions of the bus in perfect tendem. The conductor deserves an award for work efficiency. Its incredible how he manages to keep track of the people and issue tickets to all of them.
Travelling in the ghats adds its own charming elements. The bus winds through the snake like roads, screeching and howling down the hills or spluttering and coughing up the hill with the driver at his reckless best. It wouldn’t be fair to call him reckless, but it does take a strong hearted to keep his heart from popping out of his mouth. On an average day don’t be surprised to see a bus sticking upwards at the cliffside after sliding off the road. Road barriers are non-existent. If you do manage to keep your heart in its proper position, there are other things that just might pop from your mouth. Its disgusting to see people in the bus sticking their retching heads out of the windows. And the bus I travelled in, seemed to have an extra ordinarily large assemeblage of the spring stomached. Everywhere I saw was the same scene of people retching. The conductor was sitting in his seat oblivious of all the commotion around him. Probably it was a routine affair for him.
This article will never end I think. So I better stop.
I could go on and on, but its better I stop here or I might scare away the prospective tourists from this blessed land of ours…
I mean it. It really is awesome. I happened to travel by a KSRTC bus in the western ghats a few days ago. And I loved it. The view was unparalleled. I was left wondering why people even bother to go to the swiss alps when you have such a beautiful place right here that can be visited at a thousandth of the price.
But that is not what I ‘enjoyed’ the most. What I enjoyed was just the feeling of sitting in the bus. The environment in a bus is that of India at its secular best. It’s a wonder how people manage to squeeze themselves like the idiomatic sphagetti. Fat men, old women, excited children, bawling babies… All of them shed their inhibitions and try to cram themselves into the atomic spaces between people. What results is a single body responding to the motions of the bus in perfect tendem. The conductor deserves an award for work efficiency. Its incredible how he manages to keep track of the people and issue tickets to all of them.
Travelling in the ghats adds its own charming elements. The bus winds through the snake like roads, screeching and howling down the hills or spluttering and coughing up the hill with the driver at his reckless best. It wouldn’t be fair to call him reckless, but it does take a strong hearted to keep his heart from popping out of his mouth. On an average day don’t be surprised to see a bus sticking upwards at the cliffside after sliding off the road. Road barriers are non-existent. If you do manage to keep your heart in its proper position, there are other things that just might pop from your mouth. Its disgusting to see people in the bus sticking their retching heads out of the windows. And the bus I travelled in, seemed to have an extra ordinarily large assemeblage of the spring stomached. Everywhere I saw was the same scene of people retching. The conductor was sitting in his seat oblivious of all the commotion around him. Probably it was a routine affair for him.
This article will never end I think. So I better stop.
I could go on and on, but its better I stop here or I might scare away the prospective tourists from this blessed land of ours…
You forgot the stops for tea/coffee on the roadside... I reckon India's best-tasting tea is sold on highways. And to think it costs us a fraction of what we'd pay in the cities. (for worse stuff, mind you)
ReplyDeleteYeah you are right about that...
ReplyDeleteBut i didnt see many tea shops in the ghats...
They probably dont want to be mowed down the cliffside..
you did not post any pictures,it would have been better..i will link my post about ksrtc to your post.
ReplyDeleteWell truth be told i was hardly in a position to take snaps at the time... I didnt have a camera apart from my cell and I was in a crowded KSRTC bus after all..
ReplyDelete