On a Saturday ...

Well i remember reading in one of the newspaper that BMTC Buses are the mode of Transportation to Hell / Heaven and the Driver & Conductors are the "Yamdootas".

It was one of my happiest saturday as there was no MS classes that day. I was still in my cozy bed that i got a call from office saying there was an emergency activity to be taken care and i had to come to office in next hour. With no one to blame i cursed myself for choosing this IT lifestyle and got ready to go to office. Weekdays i take the office shuttles and since it was a weekend i checked with the Transport if there was any bus to office and i got a reply saying its after two hours. Rather than taking a cab and enjoying the fly-over drive I thought let me board the BMTC bus and enjoy the "FLY-UNDER" drive. I was lucky enough to get a 356C bus (not a volvo) and i boarded this bus and sat in the seat next to the second door. I and  the conductor exchanged smiles while collecting the tickets. I called my Mom and said i was on the way to office. Hearing my North Karnataka Kannada the conductor was happy and he started to talk to me. He knew i was a Wipro Employee and was telling my office was beautiful to look and he wanted to come and see it from inside once. I asked him on why was he so keen , he said he was a proud father of a girl child and he wanted her  to be an Software Engineer.

I just wanted to say him that you can ask your daughter to be anything other than SE , but seieng his interst and entho i was quite a good listener that moment. The bus gradually started getting crowded and by the time the bus reached "KOODLU Gate"  , there were some guys standing near the Door. The conductor kept on requesting them to get inside and not stand near the doors. By the time bus reached HOSA ROAD it was fully crowded and the driver had kept the back door open when it neared the stop. Once the bus left from  the stop , the driver closed the door and one of the guys head was almost between the door. I was in a shock to see this and immediately  the conductor asked the driver to open the door. Other passengers started shouting at the conductor for he not alerting the people that the door was being closed. Some guys started shouting at him with Slangs but none of them was concerned with the boy whose head was hurt. The conductor without listening to any of their words was talking to the guy who was hurt if he was ok or should he be taken to hospital. The guy said he was ok and need not worry. However the conductor was not convinced and he gave him 100 Rs and asked him to go to hospital. The guy denied the amount and got down at "PES" college.But the rest of the crowd still kept shouting at the conductor. The conductor lost his temper and in pure north karnataka style he said " *** Makla .. hudugan tali odadaithi antha nododu bitt adenro nan baiyatheeri.. tageeli enu kalagindu . ella devva ilisbidtheeni" means " Son of *!@#(*@#( .. instead of checking if the boy is hurt why u shouting at me .. if i allow my footwear to talk then all the ghosts that have obsessed you shall run away now". It was obvious for him to sAY THIS becuase inspite of he requesting the boy to leave from that door .. he was still standing there.

According to me the conductor was no way to blame in this. The bus was almost near my office and the conductor came next to me and said Rather than facing such situations i sometimes feel to run away from here and be at my place. You peoples life is a golden life. You have nice AC offices , salaries ... etc. I was still not responding to him and he said i wish i would have joined IT. While getting down the bus i said.. you only told about your thoughts but sometimes i feel to run away from this IT Life and lead a simple life like you and i dunno why but i had tears in my eyes when i said this. may be the tears were because i was working on a saturday or was it something else.

It just left with me one question .. what else can make me feel satisfied if i am not satisfied with what i have now.
I thought i was almost on the stage of getting settled.I want to thank that conductor who made me realize that i was not happy with what i had and even if i opt to lead a simple life i would not be happy ....