Travelling in buses and the woes....

A Moment of 'ETERNAL BLISS' ..........is when?????????

when you are eating? when you are praised ? when you are singing or listening to music? when you are out with your friends?

........NO NO NO NO!!! You are probably missing out on something more important!

None of this can beat the pleasure of seeing a DTC bus come towards you and ..and ..and...STOPPP!! (rare for a DTC vehicle , isn't it?) . So , you are now a relieved soul... it'll quickly take you to your college , in a matter of hours and minutes (well , maybe not that quick) .

Exaggerative you say??? (...huh!!!) then you either don't travel to college by bus or live somewhere near to your college , coz only then can you be 'stone hearted' enough to not understand a day-ski's (day scholar , you maybe knowing!) plight ! 

Jokes apart ( though i wasn't really joking) , how many of us had ever thought that some day we'll have to PRAY for a DTC (an 879 is my own savior everyday) to come so that we don't get late for college . A DTC coming towards you is not enough dear , you are yet to achieve your 'goal' ......forget all your entrance exams , now prove your mettle by battling a multi dozen other people , more experienced than you in terms of travelling in buses , to get into your bus . Do all that you can , use all that you have ; push , pull, drag , run behind the bus or RUN OVER another......forget the age difference , your manners too for a while coz the other people on the bus stop with you are now your COMPETITORS .

Its not such a do-or-die situation ,though ,coz even if you miss the DTC , there MUST be a blueline coming your way , there are loads of them infact running every now and then . Fine then, get onto the blueline and see the difference . 'Enjoy' the blueline ride for DOUBLE the time than what a DTC would have taken , put in your earphones and have a nice time listening to your favorite music , you may even take a nap ...coz the blueline would be stopping every 1-2 minutes and so you may want to spend this time someway other than simply looking around!

And then , the Delhi bus ride won't spare you either. Get onto it and be all geared up to be thrown away here and there like luggage by people who have to get out and need to make their way through the crowd for the same , unless you are lucky enough to be in a non-crowded (read LESS crowded!) bus . And then , for girls , matters are no less than worse ! 

Seriously , its not as easy travelling in buses for girls as it maybe for boys. And i am pretty sure about it since i have seen and heard my own friends bemoan the same plight everywhere, even in Facebook statuses .Take for example , an incident that a friend of mine recently came across. She was  was this headstrong girl , not ready to tolerate any kind of nuisance , travelling in a blueline . Nothing could have bothered the studious girl ,who is often studying sitting in the bus ( thank god , not when she is standing !! !!) , except for a cloud of cigarette smoke . So here was this conductor , smoking heavily , right in front of the 'NO-SMOKING' board , thinking that none would bother, or rather ,dare to protest . None did actually , except this friend of mine who raised a strong voice against it and said to him " bhaiyya , aap ko woh board nazar nhi ata jo apke piche hi hai....bus mein smoke krna mana hai !!!!!!"..........

.........oooooohhhhhh.......great , isn't it? Finally , somebody could raise her voice against what was not right ! kudos to her!! Deserves applause!!!

BUT, what happened then , you didn't ask me that (oh, how can you ..haha!!) . Well , nothing major , except that the conductor now came and occupied a seat just behind her and directed his smoke RIGHT ONTO her!!!

That just speaks it all ... our plight (i am here representing the community of female travelers)  .....though i haven't yet talked about the DEADLY STARES (NOT VERY UNUSUAL FOR FEMALES HERE IN INDIA ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE , ISN'T IT?), THE MISBEHAVING PEOPLE , THE SEAT FIGHTS , THE BUMPY RIDE ITSELF ........and what not. 

But ,to an extent , it depends on us too . We have to decide our tolerance levels . Like another very good friend of mine . When she is sitting in a bus , people , men that is, can't stand even near her seat . If they dare to do so , they'll get some really "sweet" words from her (you understand the 'sweetness' here , right???) !! And this is one of the things i really praise about her.

I admit , i myself am yet to get into these ways of dealing with all this nuisance , though i have improved much more now ( seems like i am talking of academics!!!!!) . I surely have come a long way since the time when i had to be dropped and picked up by my father from wherever i had to go , which infact is the way with many of us  , before entering college.

So , this is the first major change in the lifestyles of maybe not all , but many of us ,after coming to college-leaving the comfort of our own vehicles to travel in the rickety buses of Delhi  .I guess , i got more focussed on the plight of female commuters here , but ,as a matter of fact , IT IS JUSTIFIED. Travelling in buses here in India is not always easy . What i just said is only a little part of the actual situation. I sincerely hope , that the condition improves ,somewhere in the near future..........though there is MUCH MUCH MUCH that needs to be done !!!!