The Bus, Us and thousand others...

   

I always loved travelling.. All kinda travelling.. But after what happened to me recently, i might have to change my opinion about travelling. I was trying to get to madurai (I ve never had a good opinion about madurai.. that doesnt help things either). Hera is a messy sketch that will give u an idea of what happened....

    The journey from my home to Singanallur(bus-terminal) was very comfortable. The low floor air buses (தாழ்தள சொகுசு பேருந்து ) with running LED displays makes ur travel very easy within the city. right after i got down at singanallur the adventure started. 
   
   Where are the empty buses that ply to madurai..??
   Where are the empty seats that makes me feel pity on my friends in other(bigger) cities..??
   
  I did not find any of the things that might make me feel remotely happy. All I found was heads, legs, arms and luggages of thousands of people. What the heck?? Suddenly why does everybody want to go to MADURAI???


  The reality slowly started to sink in and it was not nice. We were four people, me, bulb, Satheesh Viswanathan and some guy i just met. Not even the fantastic four can get a bus there, you could imagine. 


  We were waiting for a bus like tigers waiting to pounce on a prey, except for the fact that there were 1000 tigers but just one prey. In came a bus bearing the golden words "Madurai(மதுரை )" . We need to run, push off others and grab a seat. We are software engineers, our bodies are not tuned for active sports like this; but still we had no other options. The bus came inside, slowed down and took a turn..... Whow.. the bus was already full... What?? How is this possible.. Are people doing round trips from madurai to coimbatore to madurai just for the heck of it... The realization came late.. There was a crowd outside the terminus who are jumping into the bus on its way in... 


   We cant do that.. We are softies.. Those people who were doing that are Hardcore madurai guys.(paruthiveeran anyone??). The competition was stiff and we were the definite underdogs. Satheesh suggested that we need to go outside too. We did.. Adventure begins. In came the next bus, it was dark, it was cold and we were sleepy, Satheesh ran, he jumped and hurray he got into a bus.. Victory... Victory... We can go to madurai.. The happiness was very short-lived and it was followed by an irritating feeling of stupidity. That was was not going to madurai. It is going to tiruchy. I felt like dying or was i just too sleepy. The silver lining - we got some practice. The dark cloud - we missed two madurai buses in the meantime. 


  I saw two buses and I think I saw "மதுரை " on them.. What do I do??? do i let Satheesh do it again.. Or Do i try?? What if i get into the wrong bus?? What if i fall down and break my teeth?? What if i dont fall down and my tooth are safe but a guy in the bus whom i just pushed off for a seat breaks it for me?? What if i get crushed to death?? questions were plenty. bt the answer was just one... GO FOR IT.


  I saw the bus, I leaped... I jumped and my feet were magically on the steps.. Teeth..Check.. Guy who can break my teeth.. Check.. I looked around and i found a seat.. It gave me the same feeling when i rode my bicycle for the longest stretch without falling off.. I sat on the seat.. and held on to three more for my fellow tigers.. That is the toughest part.


 There were three mean looking ruffians, who would easily qualify as next vijay movie villians. One with the long hair came up to me.. 
"தம்பி..  seat யாருக்கு ,,, ???".. 
"அண்ணா ஆளு வருது"..
"என்ன டா ஆளு வருது... _________ வருது??" [fill the blank with the word that rhymes]


I knew what will happen next.. He is gonna beat me up.. i cant fight him.. Im not a mass movie star.. Soon i heard a voice that saved me.. No.. Not a hero who comes to rescue me.. It was just Mr.Long hair's friend who found another seat for them. 
"டேய் மாப்ள.. இங்க seat இருக்கு டா.."


The sense of relief was immeasurable.. I held of to the seat warding off innocent looking ladies and few kids.. Finally came my tigers.. 


All this to get a seat in one of the most uncomfortable buses in the entire TN....