Recently I was invited to my friend's sister's wedding in Pune. I was ready on one leg to get there, not because I love attending weddings or socialising with hoards of people I don't know; but because I would be travelling alone. Yeah , yeah, I know age 25 isn't exactly a time when I should feel proud that I would be travelling alone for the first time because most people have been there, done that much before they turned double digits! But well, I have a dad who gets extremely possessive and concerned and never lets his daughter travel alone [it's a surprise he let me go to college and work all over Bombay!].
So after much hankering, pleading and emotional drama, I was let to have my way and go to Pune all alone. My dad made sure that I would travel in utmost comfort and thought a Volvo ride would do good but unfortunately for him, all those monsters were packed! So there we are, dad and I, standing at the S. T. bus stop waiting for one of those MSRTC A.C. buses. There they go, one after another with people filled inside like sardines, kids, women dressed in traditional sarees[it was apparently Buddha Purnima that day]...Finally i got one which hadn't a seat empty to place my buns on. The conductor promised a seat after 45 minutes and asked me to join him in the driver's cabin till then. I was a little skeptical about joining him in there but followed him never-the-less!
The ride didn't seem all that great till we hit beyond Vashi. Another man had joined me in that cabin which was hot, stinking heavily of manly sweat and I had to sit on the engine which wasn't exactly the throne of the Persian king! There was incessant and unwanted friendly banter amongst the three men [the driver, conductor and the third man] which was driving me mad considering I was out of it! People who know me will swear by the fact that I hate being left out of a conversation[People who don't know me, WRITE IT DOWN!] . But as we hit the highway, a very different feeling came over me - I started enjoying the view outside, I loved the fact that I could see the road in its entirety....loved the weather and the smooth cruise along the broad roads. After a while, the third man got a seat at the far end of the bus and was more than glad to leave us three in the driver's cabin. Time ticked by slowly with the three of us in there. They were a bit conscious and struggled to keep silent and spoke only when necessary. Finally the driver couldn't take it anymore and decided to spark up a conversation with me. He started out with the typical rural Maharashtrian twang and asked me where I was headed to. At first it was really difficult to catch his accent but by and by I got used to it-almost felt like home!!
As our conversations flowed like old friends that saw each other yesterday, it just got more apparent to me that I was in that cabin to stay! Soon enough, the bus came to a screeching halt at a food mall and there I was guzzling down coffee and hot hot medu vadas. I was graced by sweet and sort of embarrassed smiles from the driver-conductor duo who were feeling pretty bad that I was eating all alone. I instantly grabbed my phone and started jabbering, lest they invite me to sit at their table and enjoy chai with them! 10 minutes later, our driver whistled to inform us that he was going—with or without us! All of us scrambled into the old bus and I graciously took my seat next to the duo. More conversations and finally the driver asked me what he had been dying to ask me—"kuthh utraych ahe tumhala hoy?"[where do u want to get off]. I promptly took out the marriage card which had the address on it and showed it to him. A slow, all-understanding smile lighted his face and he murmured some place that I had never heard of in my entire life. The conductor and driver exchanged ways and means to get there and proudly let me know directions and the best way to get there in time.
Soon we were entering Pune limits and incesant jabbering still continued between the three of us. People got off at various stops and the city came to life as we neared the famous spots in and around Pune. I was getting increasingly restless to get off and kept asking "driver bhauji" if my destination had arrived. The conductor laughed out loud and said that i had another 30 minutes to get off so I should simply stop getting anxious and relax! Finally, Swargate arrived and I was ceremoniously taken off the bus with, both, the driver and conductor on the road with me, making an effort to show me the directions and get me a rick. People peeped out of their windows to see what the commotion was all about. I thanked them profusely and told them what a delight they had made my journey. They blushed in tandem and shrugged their shoulders. As they climbed back into the bus and it's stinky cabin, I saw the conductor and driver take out a little tabacoo and pat it on their palms and put it in their mouths. I smiled to myself and thought that this was definatley one journey i woudn't forget for years to come.
I picked my bag and walked to the rickshaw stand.
So after much hankering, pleading and emotional drama, I was let to have my way and go to Pune all alone. My dad made sure that I would travel in utmost comfort and thought a Volvo ride would do good but unfortunately for him, all those monsters were packed! So there we are, dad and I, standing at the S. T. bus stop waiting for one of those MSRTC A.C. buses. There they go, one after another with people filled inside like sardines, kids, women dressed in traditional sarees[it was apparently Buddha Purnima that day]...Finally i got one which hadn't a seat empty to place my buns on. The conductor promised a seat after 45 minutes and asked me to join him in the driver's cabin till then. I was a little skeptical about joining him in there but followed him never-the-less!
The ride didn't seem all that great till we hit beyond Vashi. Another man had joined me in that cabin which was hot, stinking heavily of manly sweat and I had to sit on the engine which wasn't exactly the throne of the Persian king! There was incessant and unwanted friendly banter amongst the three men [the driver, conductor and the third man] which was driving me mad considering I was out of it! People who know me will swear by the fact that I hate being left out of a conversation[People who don't know me, WRITE IT DOWN!] . But as we hit the highway, a very different feeling came over me - I started enjoying the view outside, I loved the fact that I could see the road in its entirety....loved the weather and the smooth cruise along the broad roads. After a while, the third man got a seat at the far end of the bus and was more than glad to leave us three in the driver's cabin. Time ticked by slowly with the three of us in there. They were a bit conscious and struggled to keep silent and spoke only when necessary. Finally the driver couldn't take it anymore and decided to spark up a conversation with me. He started out with the typical rural Maharashtrian twang and asked me where I was headed to. At first it was really difficult to catch his accent but by and by I got used to it-almost felt like home!!
As our conversations flowed like old friends that saw each other yesterday, it just got more apparent to me that I was in that cabin to stay! Soon enough, the bus came to a screeching halt at a food mall and there I was guzzling down coffee and hot hot medu vadas. I was graced by sweet and sort of embarrassed smiles from the driver-conductor duo who were feeling pretty bad that I was eating all alone. I instantly grabbed my phone and started jabbering, lest they invite me to sit at their table and enjoy chai with them! 10 minutes later, our driver whistled to inform us that he was going—with or without us! All of us scrambled into the old bus and I graciously took my seat next to the duo. More conversations and finally the driver asked me what he had been dying to ask me—"kuthh utraych ahe tumhala hoy?"[where do u want to get off]. I promptly took out the marriage card which had the address on it and showed it to him. A slow, all-understanding smile lighted his face and he murmured some place that I had never heard of in my entire life. The conductor and driver exchanged ways and means to get there and proudly let me know directions and the best way to get there in time.
Soon we were entering Pune limits and incesant jabbering still continued between the three of us. People got off at various stops and the city came to life as we neared the famous spots in and around Pune. I was getting increasingly restless to get off and kept asking "driver bhauji" if my destination had arrived. The conductor laughed out loud and said that i had another 30 minutes to get off so I should simply stop getting anxious and relax! Finally, Swargate arrived and I was ceremoniously taken off the bus with, both, the driver and conductor on the road with me, making an effort to show me the directions and get me a rick. People peeped out of their windows to see what the commotion was all about. I thanked them profusely and told them what a delight they had made my journey. They blushed in tandem and shrugged their shoulders. As they climbed back into the bus and it's stinky cabin, I saw the conductor and driver take out a little tabacoo and pat it on their palms and put it in their mouths. I smiled to myself and thought that this was definatley one journey i woudn't forget for years to come.
I picked my bag and walked to the rickshaw stand.
