The public bus service in Bangalore is certainly the most popular travel mode among the daily commuters who travel long distances to either offices, schools or colleges. The BMTC is one of the very few profit making transport organization run by the government.
Today after a long time I used the BMTC services to travel to office. I waited for sometime at the stand for a Volvo(ah! extremely comfortable for long journeys) but seeing none come by I decided to use the first general bus that came by. turned out my luck ran-out today and the bus was a 'dreaded' Rear-Engine-Bus.
It looks no different from any other bus on the BMTC fleet, and this one rather looked like one of those well-maintained buses which would offer you a comfortable journey altogether but as I entered the bus and purchased the ticket from the conductor, the engine roared and it took me little time to understand that alas! I have been fooled by the wolf in a sheep's clothing.
I had a long distance to travel and recited my prayers hoping to find a seat soon. And then (mis)fortunately I found one: in the last row. Five seconds were quite enough for me to understand what my fate today was going to be. The engine roared right under me to a start and every part of the bus danced to the tunes of the engine, including the people who were shaking in a steady motion which looked similar to pack of animals shivering on a cold winter night.
The noise of the engine thump the brain like a million hammers striking together, half a million trying to explode it and the other half trying to implode it. Its just this balance that keeps the skull in one piece. The neck muscles take extra care to keep the head steady in the fear that if not, they just might disturb this balance and cause the disaster they've been trying to hold off all this while.
Just when I thought this was all, the smell of the half-burnt diesel emanated from the engine underneath my seat reaches my nose. Now, the brain though half consciousness gathers all its energy like a sacrificial goat in the final attempt of escape. A thought begins to flow if I should abdicate the seat I had been holding so dearly, wondering if going a little far from the bellowing engine would help my case. Finally a decision is made and the legs are commanded to move, the hips to support them in the endeavor and finally joined by the hands to support the stand. When I got up and stood a little ahead, my fellow back-seaters looked at me with dazed eyes and wondered if they should be doing the same. Probably a telepathic wave hit them all at once they all stood up to vacate that seat of death.
Ah! This was probably the first time in my life that I felt more comfortable standing than resting on a chair. The bus then halted at the next stop and more commuters joined it. Some of them pushed to the back by the crowd behind them saw these empty seats and I could see the glorious delight of a victory on their faces. They glanced at us with a look of question and we all replied back with a smirk, like that of the enlightened looking at the bustling ignorants.
It took them little time to realize what we meant and and travel back in time to find themselves in our chairs and then the entire tale reiterated. The tale of the Rear Engine Bus.
Today after a long time I used the BMTC services to travel to office. I waited for sometime at the stand for a Volvo(ah! extremely comfortable for long journeys) but seeing none come by I decided to use the first general bus that came by. turned out my luck ran-out today and the bus was a 'dreaded' Rear-Engine-Bus.
It looks no different from any other bus on the BMTC fleet, and this one rather looked like one of those well-maintained buses which would offer you a comfortable journey altogether but as I entered the bus and purchased the ticket from the conductor, the engine roared and it took me little time to understand that alas! I have been fooled by the wolf in a sheep's clothing.
I had a long distance to travel and recited my prayers hoping to find a seat soon. And then (mis)fortunately I found one: in the last row. Five seconds were quite enough for me to understand what my fate today was going to be. The engine roared right under me to a start and every part of the bus danced to the tunes of the engine, including the people who were shaking in a steady motion which looked similar to pack of animals shivering on a cold winter night.
The noise of the engine thump the brain like a million hammers striking together, half a million trying to explode it and the other half trying to implode it. Its just this balance that keeps the skull in one piece. The neck muscles take extra care to keep the head steady in the fear that if not, they just might disturb this balance and cause the disaster they've been trying to hold off all this while.
Just when I thought this was all, the smell of the half-burnt diesel emanated from the engine underneath my seat reaches my nose. Now, the brain though half consciousness gathers all its energy like a sacrificial goat in the final attempt of escape. A thought begins to flow if I should abdicate the seat I had been holding so dearly, wondering if going a little far from the bellowing engine would help my case. Finally a decision is made and the legs are commanded to move, the hips to support them in the endeavor and finally joined by the hands to support the stand. When I got up and stood a little ahead, my fellow back-seaters looked at me with dazed eyes and wondered if they should be doing the same. Probably a telepathic wave hit them all at once they all stood up to vacate that seat of death.
Ah! This was probably the first time in my life that I felt more comfortable standing than resting on a chair. The bus then halted at the next stop and more commuters joined it. Some of them pushed to the back by the crowd behind them saw these empty seats and I could see the glorious delight of a victory on their faces. They glanced at us with a look of question and we all replied back with a smirk, like that of the enlightened looking at the bustling ignorants.
It took them little time to realize what we meant and and travel back in time to find themselves in our chairs and then the entire tale reiterated. The tale of the Rear Engine Bus.
