A JOURNEY TO SUFFER

“Make hay while the sun shines.” This saying had been reiterated to me many times in my childhood. But very sorry to say this doesn’t click with me anymore at least figuratively. Waking up early morning with torturing thoughts of monotonicity has been the worst deal of my life. But battling all these with a hollow inner voice of ‘COMEON’ I go through my daily morning routine to get myself ready to face the outer world. But wait, before leaving sweet home a look at the wallet is very very important as the contents inside it tend to play a villainous role in one’s journey.

Being a resident of Kolkata (the City of Joy) I am highly indebted to its public transportation. Speeding buses with their conductors hollering for passengers is a common site on Kolkata roads. But as a passenger the ride in these buses is not that joyous. Interior of buses ensure that one gets the minimum comfort in his/her journey. Courtesy to our ever growing Indian population, you find yourself stuffed with so many others, much much more than the bus can actually accommodate. Packed inside the ill ventilated bus and cooked by the hot, sultry weather the inevitable starts – you break into sweat and drops of it start trickling from your till now immaculate face. At the same time, you can’t really complain about coming in contact with a sweat drenched co-passenger around you. The passenger seat ratio at peak time even reaches a fatal 4 is to 1, implying presence of 100 odd passengers in an average sized bus.

Very soon you find the conductor asking in his loud, rugged voice for the bhara (Bengali version of fare). That is when the pre check of your wallet comes into play. Doesn’t matter how rich you are and how much cash you are actually carrying, what is by default expected from you by the conductor is chutta (Indian version for change) or the exact fare if possible. But beware, before you hand over the chutta please ensure you have enough for rest of the day. You see it’s because every Indian wants change!! And in case if you are handing a 50 or a 100 rupees note then be ready to be on the receiving side for both the change as well as the taunting. Same is the case when you dare to board the bus with any type of baggage. Once you are greeted with rebuke from the conductor and other passengers balancing and finding space becomes the next big thing. 

Surely the conductor is the most happening person in a bus. Stopping the bus frequently for more passengers and stuffing them in the already packed bus or beating the bus and setting up the tone to encourage the driver catch speed are trademark acts of a conductor. Hence the bus is either crawling or moving dangerously at high speed. In both cases the conductor ends up becoming a punching bag on which passengers vent out their anger. Threatening and banging the bus is a very common thing done by commuters to get the bus moving smoothly. Some of the comments hurled by passengers at the conductor are worth enjoying. If you get a seat then its fortunate enough given that the seat is comfortable and you share it with an average sized person and most importantly that you have the confidence of making your way through the crowded bus by the time it reaches your desired stoppage. But hold on. If you see an old person standing beside you then it’s surely charity knocking your door. Like it or not go ahead and do the good deed.

Like any other journey in life the bus journey too provides you with some good people and some not so good people. You can frequently find yourself among short tempered persons who are now and then getting angry on slightest of the pushes or constantly grumbling about how others are standing. Surely the only remedy for tackling such petulant people and conductors are temporary blindness and deafness on your part. It’s always best to put up a stern body language, making it difficult to be dominated by the people around you especially in a public bus. Often it’s the poor people who are maltreated by the conductor. Aren’t they paying the same fare as a good looking lady or a well dressed gentleman?? Isn’t the bus meant for the public?? So why the difference?? 

The bus journey surely takes you through various mood swings. Doesn’t it? At times you feel philosophical (like why am I here? What is the purpose of life?) or sometimes dreamy (like becoming someone like Ranbir Kapoor or SRK or driving a BMW) but the very next moment you feel a bit angry and frustrated when reality bites you. Surely you can’t restrain yourself at times hurling some bad slang at people around you if not openly then at least in your mind. 

But after being transported like animals (as if gadhas)  and going through all those traffic jams, irritating stoppages, pushing, shouting and fighting one finally reaches his destination. Getting down like boarding requires quickness of mind and as it’s difficult to predict where the bus would stop; you can easily find yourself in a precarious situation in the middle of a busy road.

Surely “survival of the fittest” at its best- only understood by people who don’t own a private vehicle.  

 -PRASENJIT CHAUDHURI