Today after a long time I took the bus on my way back home. Every Friday my travel writer friend generally leaves early. The TGIF mood overpowers him so much that he runs away from his office at 2pm! Wonderful life he has. And that’s the life of an honorable senior manager…when the fuck I will be a manager like him?? I also want to leave at 2pm and relax.
I decided to take the bus today as I didn’t feel like paying Rs 100 to the auto. And the other important reason was I was not having proper winter gear to face the chilly wind of Delhi winter in an auto. So decided to play safe and take the bus. It will be a time consuming ride but at least it will be warm inside. I got into a minibus after waiting a long time for the government bus. The green AC buses plying on the roads looks very attractive and I wanted to try it out today. But despite waiting for almost half an hour no bus arrived for my route. Government punctuality. So unwillingly I got inside a rickety minibus and took a seat at the back. Most of the windows were half broken and a good quantity of biting wind was playing with us inside. A tauji was smoking a biri. Nobody told anything. I kept quiet. The biri smell was disgusting. The seat behind him was vacant. At sec 18 two girls fully loaded with books boarded the bus. They sat behind the tauji and unfortunately could not digest the strong biri smell. They coughed and tried to shield the smoke with their dupatta. The very people who ignored Tajuji’s smoking now got Vocal. One told him mutedly to throw the biri. Another guy joined. Then another. The Tauji looked ferocious and did not listen to any one of them. I looked at the girl. She was preety. And I remembered my Chivalrous Travel writer friend. Today morning a group of four beautiful girls were trying to cross the road. They were medical college students. It was a two way road and no car was slowing down. My friend slowed his car down and signaled them to pass by. Now this is what I call gentlemanly behavior! A true Knight! Chivalry man…the way to a woman’s heart.
“Abe biri phek de tau…logon ko parisani ho raha hain” I told in a loud voice uncontrollably. Fuck! I didn’t want to tell this. What the hell happened I don’t know. Tauji looked back with Red eyes. “Kaun hain” he boomed.
“Yaar logon ko parisani ho raha hain…phek do na malik” I told politely. Mind the word ‘malik’. I mewed in fact. He was too strong compared to me. But my chivalry was intact. The girls are having a tough time with the smoke. And somebody need to protect them.
“Nahi mujhe biri pina hain. Mein piyunga. Jo karna hain kar le”. He shouted.
Now I was not prepared to get deep inside. I could have told him more but it would be useless. I cursed my travel writer friend for running away early and pushing me into this mess. The girls looked at me. I looked out of the window. Luckily the conductor intervened. He was also a big guy. He put his hand on Tauji’s shoulder and told him to throw the Biri away. His tone was fucking scary. Tauji complied without a word. Such is a power of a booming voice. I looked at the girls. They were not looking at me.
And soon it got very boring. The speed of the bus was anything but inspiring. Suddenly it increased its speed and started running like an injured bull. The conductor told the driver “aj Rao ki gari ko ekdum side mat dena. Dekh lenge aj salley ko”.
The bus stopped at sector 37 bus stop for a long time. The girls got down. There were around ten buses waiting at the stand and all were going in the same route. And each bus conductor shouted at the top of his voice wooing the passengers. Lot of adjectives were used…super, superfast, rajdhani. Finally the bus started. And again it was a boring ride. After almost an hour I reached home.
Did I enjoy my bus ride? Honestly No! But then if beautiful faces are inside I am game. Only condition is there should be no Tauji.
