KUDOS- PPL OF MUMBAI!!!

The other day I had gone to college to get sum pending work done and as usual was loafing till late without realizing that I am no longer a student and do not hold a valid 1st class train pass anymore.
Around sevenish hired an auto to Andheri station and that’s when there was a revelation that I wud have to
1. Stand in the never-ending ticket queue at the station, then
2. Climb up the station bridge,
3. Climb down to the platform,
4. Board a train.
5. Climb up again the Lower Parel Bridge,
6. Hail a cab, and
7. Walk up home. …
So to save myself all the hassle I just thought of using the best (Supposedly the best….as the name suggests) bus service, knowing tat it would certainly take me eons more to reach home but I gave way to convenience, not that I don’t value time… But after graduating there is actually nothing better to do. Lol. But how was I to predict the tyranny that was to follow??

I was waiting for the bus route 84 or A1 whichever wud cum 1st but secretly praying that I wud get the AC bus considering the Mumbai heat and humidity is at its peek… eeeeks!.. all sweaty n stinky.. im sure everyone can associate wid it, thanks to global warming it wud get worse day by day. The busses were coming one after the other but none of them were ‘mine’…. The wait continued form 15 min to 30 min to 45 min…. vehicles were farting out all the carbon mono-oxide on us... YUCK!!! And wait was getting as agonizing as the time passed.

Looked at mah watch and it was 8:00pm….. Holly Shit!!... I was waiting for bloody ONE HOUR without any sign of either of the busses… forget the special AC bus, couldn’t even spot the non-ac bus….

Now, after more then an hout on the bus-stop, I had really lost my patience and marched right inside the BEST depot….. and wat do I see??.... any guesses??… the bus no. 84 was out there with the conductor napping on the long stretch of the back seat….. Are we morons to be standing on the fuckin bus-stop for more then an hour?

I yelled out to him and started asking for explanation for the delay in the bus service… I was trying to have a conversation keeping my cool but without realizing I was quite high on my pitch. I realized that as I was surrounded by ppl around gawking at the scene.
I was asked to return to the bus stop and was quite dejected and embarrassed too to some extent.
Dejected….. Coz it did not help…
Embarrassed... coz it did not help ATALL!!!

The bus did cum in five odd minutes after my conversation but the conductor seemed ignorant and disinterested. The issue had to be taken up so I came up wid the plan. (Sounds like some detective series..haha)

By the time the bus did come, most of the crowd had dispersed. The office goin younger lot had opted for the train instead but the senior citizens ofc did not have much of a choice but to wait. While the cundocter came 2 ask for the tickets I purposely bought up the topic again.
“Aaj bus kyon itna late hua. Hum sab ek ghanta khade thae…”
Now the conductor was baffelled as he clearly wasn’t expecting me to confront me in the bus in front of the croud…. “Huh??”… guess he did not have any logical replies…. YEAH BABY!!...

Every1 started gaping while I was desperately waiting for sum backup. The people in the bus surely did not disappoint me…
Instantly an old man replied …. “Ye toh roz ka hain …..lekain aaj toh bahut der kaise laga”..
Another lady who must be a frequent traveler was completely charged up and started blaberring some abuses at the conductor which non of us cud make out but… WAT DA HELL!!.. I did not care as long as she was hurdling it at the conductor.…. took his case royally.

Te conductor said that he wud look into the matter and make sure this wont happen again.
Someone remarked me that’s its not the conductors fault for me to barge out on him. But we always voice our grievances to the person who is the most accessible and is a part of the system, counting on the fact that it wud reach the required ears. In this case it surely was the -smartass conductor. AND MIND U!!- best services do not have CALL CENTRES !!.. Ha-ha, so no scope there but to say it all to whoever is accessible…. So was the case here... Hopefully looking out for some positive outcome.

The best bus is a government service for the people and no doubt there can be mis-managements and delays at times. But they are answerable to the citizens. Besides most of the times we just take things for granted and have a ‘chalta hain attitude’… nor do we bother to know wat is the reason behind it. We do not exercise our rights which we should and that’s the reason the system too lapses. We have no one to blame but us. Let’s keep the public service providers alert and on track…. : ).. sorry for all the global gyan!!!...

I was quite impresses by the sheer force of the support that I got. I wasn’t expecting the reaction to be so vivid and wild. Its nothing but frustration piled up in an average mumbaikar which wud evntly is out in some form or the other…. THANKS EVERYONE!!... I thought I wud end up makin a fool of myself but ended up being quite a hero...Lolzzzzzz!!!!!