The recent spate of killings by blue line buses in delhi and the preoccupation of these by ‘national’ channels, took me back to my 
tryst with these monsters and yes death. (The news on the day I landed in delhi was about a school boy crushed by blue line, a news paper carried the explicit image of the boy, it made me sick and very apprehensive, this was I guess 1995. I went to delhi in later part of 1995 (if I recall rightly) and stayed in single room flat in Regairpura, next to a horse stable!!. Within a month got sick-probably being exposed to cold climate after a long time, and returned, after a year I was back, this time vowing not to quit!!). I had so many close calls with death from buses (particularly in delhi) that I have lost count. It has become so common that I now shrug ‘geez that could have killed me’. But I do recall the very first week I was in delhi and was going to Cannought place and the bus took the turn to minto road, someone said get down here, not being sure of the place and very confused I jumped and slipped right in front of oncoming bus, it was a miracle that I survived, few inches. For a moment I was the object of craning faces from all vehicles in vicinity, and yes some abuse words (marega behnchodh- which has only a ritual significance in delhi). At that time I was not very comfortable in Hindi- not used it for almost a decade, so in crisis situation translating from Malayalam to Hindi in the mind consumed precious moments, ended up in very awkward situations (after an year or two I had m
astered even the delhi accent!!). This is precisely what happened once during the same period, the bus was moving from daula kua to karol bagh, it is a isolated route with no stopping. It was very crowded bus and I was hanging out and the grip started to pain by the time I realized in the duress that it is ‘roko bhaiyya’, I had started to slip surely I would be seriously injured so I screamed and people thought something had happened so they also screamed and the vehicle stopped!!. Quite an experience that one.
Many a accidents are not because of the drivers fault, the people themselves are to be blamed. Many times I cheated death and I knew I had committed the mistake; somewhere the concept of mistake itself gets blurred, since they don’t stop or you look for convenience and jump. Incidentally jumping from moving bus has its own special thrill, the reason why this blogger hates closed door buses like say in Bangalore. There are some novice who sometimes try going against the motion of the bus (I don’t call them stupid but ignorant), that is when the chela shout with utmost pleasure ‘behnchodh bihari’. Ustad also joins in with a wink (they have no liking for biharis, so much so it is an abuse word). Before jumping I used to shout ‘ustad break lag dhio jara’ of course this has absolutely no effect on him, but he is aware that I am jumping, a signal, with a futile attempt at touching his softer side, he may glance at you and you go with an obsequious best ‘laga de yaar’. If it works he will slow down. It is sometimes the passenger who instigate. Further these drivers work under tremendous pressure. That doesn’t mean they aren’t reckless many of them are serious maniacs. Once I was traveling at night during winter, a drunkard thought it was his day under the sun and so started talking crap he shifted his attention to a Sardarji and next few minutes started praising Sikhs in general and so on. I moved next to the driver, very soon I realized that he was driving quite recklessly almost running over a couple on the scooter. People seem to have had enough with the drunkard and one could hear shouts from rear. It was then that the driver came out with his masterpiece “behchodh piya hai tho pait meh rakh, mujko dekh koi batha sakhtha hai ki quarter pee ke baitha hoon!!!!”. I immediately got down at the next stop.
If speed alone is the criteria then the Pvt bus drivers in ernakulam-cochin are the most dangerous in the country and I say it with lot of authority as an experienced passenger having traveled in buses in most cities in India. The Pvt short route buses in kerala though are very c
lean and a pleasure to travel with well mannered conductors. In TN though the experience of traveling in Pvt bus can be horrendous since they believe in ‘blasting music’ the louder the better it seems. I once told to reduce and the man smiled as if I was attempting to humor!!. The buses in Hindi heartland is entirely different experience, here the first surprise is ‘ok this bus can start, ok it has started lets see if it can move, ok it is moving now lets see if it can run…surprise surprise!!’. Don’t be amused if you have animals or poultry as co passenger. The buses in deccan region are slightly better. The buses in Kolkota are relic with wooden seats. Very few cities though have fleet of double decker buses except maybe Mumbai. Trivandrum had two and I made it a point to travel in them while in college, it feels great to be at the top front seat, you get a different perspective of traffic.
Traveling in buses can have many lighter moments like for instance there was this obese lady who was complaining about being squeezed while trying to get out in a very crowded bus. She shouted at a man, he retorted ‘aap motti hai tho hamari galthi hai kya!!’.
tryst with these monsters and yes death. (The news on the day I landed in delhi was about a school boy crushed by blue line, a news paper carried the explicit image of the boy, it made me sick and very apprehensive, this was I guess 1995. I went to delhi in later part of 1995 (if I recall rightly) and stayed in single room flat in Regairpura, next to a horse stable!!. Within a month got sick-probably being exposed to cold climate after a long time, and returned, after a year I was back, this time vowing not to quit!!). I had so many close calls with death from buses (particularly in delhi) that I have lost count. It has become so common that I now shrug ‘geez that could have killed me’. But I do recall the very first week I was in delhi and was going to Cannought place and the bus took the turn to minto road, someone said get down here, not being sure of the place and very confused I jumped and slipped right in front of oncoming bus, it was a miracle that I survived, few inches. For a moment I was the object of craning faces from all vehicles in vicinity, and yes some abuse words (marega behnchodh- which has only a ritual significance in delhi). At that time I was not very comfortable in Hindi- not used it for almost a decade, so in crisis situation translating from Malayalam to Hindi in the mind consumed precious moments, ended up in very awkward situations (after an year or two I had m
astered even the delhi accent!!). This is precisely what happened once during the same period, the bus was moving from daula kua to karol bagh, it is a isolated route with no stopping. It was very crowded bus and I was hanging out and the grip started to pain by the time I realized in the duress that it is ‘roko bhaiyya’, I had started to slip surely I would be seriously injured so I screamed and people thought something had happened so they also screamed and the vehicle stopped!!. Quite an experience that one.Many a accidents are not because of the drivers fault, the people themselves are to be blamed. Many times I cheated death and I knew I had committed the mistake; somewhere the concept of mistake itself gets blurred, since they don’t stop or you look for convenience and jump. Incidentally jumping from moving bus has its own special thrill, the reason why this blogger hates closed door buses like say in Bangalore. There are some novice who sometimes try going against the motion of the bus (I don’t call them stupid but ignorant), that is when the chela shout with utmost pleasure ‘behnchodh bihari’. Ustad also joins in with a wink (they have no liking for biharis, so much so it is an abuse word). Before jumping I used to shout ‘ustad break lag dhio jara’ of course this has absolutely no effect on him, but he is aware that I am jumping, a signal, with a futile attempt at touching his softer side, he may glance at you and you go with an obsequious best ‘laga de yaar’. If it works he will slow down. It is sometimes the passenger who instigate. Further these drivers work under tremendous pressure. That doesn’t mean they aren’t reckless many of them are serious maniacs. Once I was traveling at night during winter, a drunkard thought it was his day under the sun and so started talking crap he shifted his attention to a Sardarji and next few minutes started praising Sikhs in general and so on. I moved next to the driver, very soon I realized that he was driving quite recklessly almost running over a couple on the scooter. People seem to have had enough with the drunkard and one could hear shouts from rear. It was then that the driver came out with his masterpiece “behchodh piya hai tho pait meh rakh, mujko dekh koi batha sakhtha hai ki quarter pee ke baitha hoon!!!!”. I immediately got down at the next stop.
If speed alone is the criteria then the Pvt bus drivers in ernakulam-cochin are the most dangerous in the country and I say it with lot of authority as an experienced passenger having traveled in buses in most cities in India. The Pvt short route buses in kerala though are very c
lean and a pleasure to travel with well mannered conductors. In TN though the experience of traveling in Pvt bus can be horrendous since they believe in ‘blasting music’ the louder the better it seems. I once told to reduce and the man smiled as if I was attempting to humor!!. The buses in Hindi heartland is entirely different experience, here the first surprise is ‘ok this bus can start, ok it has started lets see if it can move, ok it is moving now lets see if it can run…surprise surprise!!’. Don’t be amused if you have animals or poultry as co passenger. The buses in deccan region are slightly better. The buses in Kolkota are relic with wooden seats. Very few cities though have fleet of double decker buses except maybe Mumbai. Trivandrum had two and I made it a point to travel in them while in college, it feels great to be at the top front seat, you get a different perspective of traffic.Traveling in buses can have many lighter moments like for instance there was this obese lady who was complaining about being squeezed while trying to get out in a very crowded bus. She shouted at a man, he retorted ‘aap motti hai tho hamari galthi hai kya!!’.
