"Traaaaffic!! Why are your classes scheduled during the peak hours?", my frustated Husband asked while dropping me to college in his coupe designed for racing! "Because its Master's, professionals do it part time", I answered, feeling guilty for having him come out of office to drop me. "Look around, just 1 person in each car! And so many cars! All crawling! Crawling cars!", he scowled. I was quiet and stiff as I could feel a heavy presence of a third entity in the car named - frustation! "When will you start driving on your own?", he asked gently after having breathed in. "Once I get confident enough on the internal roads, if not the freeways", I told him reassuringly with a smile and finally felt the frustration draining out through the ac exhaust.
So one day, we took an internal route to university with me on the wheel. The Husband accompanied me as I was a student driver, a 'female' student driver, well... a 'female' student driver in 'his' speedy coupe to be precise! But the crawling traffic ensued there too. And so did the frustration!
"Will you go by bus? I get an orca card from my company for compensating bus rides which you can use." he asked me over dinner while gobbling down his food. "No, I have heard stories of unpleasant weed-stricken creatures lurking around in the buses here" I refused, horrified at the idea. "Please!", he pleaded. "No way! Aren't you worried about my security! What if those fowl creatures kidnap me! Do you realize that you are answerable to a father-in-law now?" I protested. "Who will kidnap you, hahaha!", he laughed, amused at the impossible idea of his feisty wife going down without a fight and heartily gobbled down some more food. "Buses are quite high-tech here. Machines do the billing. And I have never operated them. It would be embarrassing if I fumble with them with all those Americans waiting behind me in the line!", I said. Sensing my real concern here, he smiled and promised to accompany me for the first time.
But my worst fears materialized on my first ride. We thought we had the exact change for one person but in fact we did not. So we hopped out just as we hopped in! And the 'Regulars' behind us got confused as to what had happened. It was embarrassing but the world is not perfect either. And so we consoled ourselves. Thereafter, I found myself determined to commute only by buses. Its been 4 months and I can now call myself a 'Regular'!
My American bus journeys have been equally spectacular as the Indian ones. Yet the two in-animates of the same species bear differences. The American buses are an engineer's pride whereas the Indian buses are an accommodation delight!
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| 1. Bus that I take to commute to UWB campus from this very stop! Credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/viriyincy/6111648480/in/photostream/ |
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| 2. Cycle in its special place |
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| 3. An Indian Bus donning Fevicol adhesive's ad Credits: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/features/brandline/a-clear-winner/article2967413.ece |
- Instead of a harsh and loud male voice yelling the stop before it arrives and the final destination before boarding, there is a prerecorded elegant female voice that does the announcing! And in extreme cases, the driver has an announcement system for apologizing in case of diversions or closed bus-stops!(yes, they apologize!)
- Instead of a conductor issuing tickets just as bus starts, there is a machine right at the entrance doing the billing just as people board. Coins, bills and passes are allowed.
- Instead of a conductor remembering your stop for you and whistling to signal the driver to stop, one has to pull a bell cord or touch a sensor besides his/her window just before the stop arrives to signal the driver to stop!
- A conductor asks for directions from fellow drivers in case there is a diversion! But American drivers are equipped with GPS systems to re-route their ways!
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| 4. Tug! tug! Bell cords Credits: https://www.nytsyn.com/images/photos/326769.html |
Hydraulics vs Man Power - Indian commuters climb awkwardly onto the high steps of Indian buses and those with special needs are helped on by others. Believe it or not, American buses bow down when they open gates for letting people in, as if saying 'Human! I bow to thee!' Gasping? Here is even more - they even let out a ramp for helping people in wheelchairs board a bus! I never imagined hydraulics can be this cool and useful!
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| 5. Wheelchair ramps. 'Human! I bow to thee!', said the bus. Credits: http://jugaadtoinnovation.blogspot.com/2012/06/making-technology-innovation-work-for.html |
Tight Screwing vs Dancing Parts - No, the laminated safety glass windows in American buses do not dance as loudly as they do in the rickety Indian buses as if expressing their merriment on the prospect of coming apart at any time. Neither does any screw nor any seat! Everything is firmly, quietly and tightly screwed in!
Cosmetics - American buses are uniformly futuristic in their appearance. They are decorated with numerous lights and support climate control. The seats are clean, cushioned and equipped with head guards, hand rests, foot rests and even support reclining capability! Everything is scientifically researched! All the windows can be used for exiting in emergency. Quite opposite to this, the Indian buses are of many kinds - ranging from traditionally and colorfully decorated inter-state buses to the AC buses now prevalent in Indian metro cities. Yet none of them support the above luxuries with such uniformity!
Queues/Lines - This is not a part of bus but related to them very significantly. Americans board a bus in a disciplined first-come-first-serve manner. They form a line as soon as they reach a bay(bus
stop). People wanting to board a bus come
out of the line to form a second line!
The rest stay put in the previous line and shrink it. People disembarking a bus have the right of way first.
Such a line of course has never been heard of by bus commuters in India! Its a show of strength, for the fear of being left behind among so many people is so en-grained not just in the minds of those boarding but also in those disembarking! Putting in a belonging like a napkin, dupatta, tiffin-box or a child from outside through the window onto a seat is one of the many amusing ways in which Indians can secure a seat for themselves!
