This was about a week ago...
It was a Friday evening. The bus was supposed to roll out at 6.30 in the evening. But then everyone knows exactly how plans unfold. And how they never do so on time. Okay, so by the time the bus starts in this story, let's just give a brief intro to what the bus trip was all about.
The bus was heading for Chennai. The gang from my college I was about to travel with was going to check out Saarang, the cultural festival of IIT Madras. More than checking it out, we were off to comparing how much better Saarang was from Raagam, our college's cultural festival. As for my case, my destination was in Chennai, it was a while from IIT Madras. Any way, more on my destination a bit later.
As for now, we, a strength of 50 (at least for the next 45 minutes to come) were mad at the seniors for having delayed the whole trip by over 45 minutes already. So the wait was on.
This being my first bus trip with a gang, specially a gang whose members I barely knew, it was a whole new experience. Thankfully there were a few fellows whom I call close friends, who happened to be around me, specially Shree(who convinced me to catch the bus), to keep me from feeling like a Martian.
Finally, the seniors arrived, punch-drunk, huffing, and more so puffing... if you know what I mean. And suddenly, this loud noise erupted from the bus. No, it wasn't that a bomb exploded somewhere inside it. It was just all the fellows shouting out of happiness, or rather out of gratitude to the seniors for having turned up, err... nevertheless 45 minutes late.
Before we get moving with the whole bus ride, there was something that struck me that day. Suppose you are sitting in a stalled bus, and it's been a while.... a really long while... There's no wind, WHATSOEVER. It is just this one suffocating seat you have to yourself and all the relentless chatter coming from the monkeys you are about to travel with, (that is, iff the bus starts moving). Now, from somewhere, someone announces that the bus is about to start. Somehow, before the bus even moves an inch, you feel a breeze magically blowing from nowhere, on your face. Mind you, this is even before the bus has started moving. It's probably the relief you feel at the mere thought of the bus moving. It totally brings back all the optimism you ever had in life.
And yes!! We were rolling!!
By the way, we were yet to pick up the girls.. Yes, you surely read the last line right. It is strange, although in a very good kind of way, that girls show their trust in us and accompany us with the belief that we guys will be there to keep them from harm of any sort, while they are with us around them. It reinforces your faith in the goodness of mankind, just the fact that they trust us.
But here too, I was in for a surprise. And not one I liked a lot at first..
There's this beautiful lady I had been talking to for a few weeks. Let's call her 'Beautiful'. We had mentioned to each other about going to Chennai, separately although...(Yeah, really sucks..). And guess who popped up when we picked up the girls. My head....Sorry!! Sorry!! my heart skipped a beat for some very strange reason up on seeing her.
She probably didn't notice me, but by some stroke of luck(or whatever one may call it), actually, more because of an over-zealous friend of hers, she came and sat on the seat right in front of mine. And just before she sat, she probably saw some part of my face...or imagined seeing it. Her face looked like Tweety's(the yellow cartoon Canary), the time when Tweety says "I think I saw a Phushhykhat(pussycat)... I did!! I did saw a phushhykhat!!". As far as my face was concerned, the way I think I smiled at her, I must have looked like Hector (the pussycat).... Brilliant! She asked me about my trip(again), about which, we had already discussed at length, and I happily told most of what she already knew. Suddenly, some bugger came along saying we guys had to adjust around as there were two more ladies to join us. And yeah... for the gentleman I am not, I agreed to move to another seat make some space. Thankfully, I managed to get another window seat... Hmmm... No more 'Beautiful' in the seat ahead of me... Sad..
Little did I know that the bus was a Discotheque in itself! It all started after a brief pit-stop for some water and some snacks. All the lights and sound and stuff. The bus had that colorful rotating light 'thingy'. It was all psychedelic, noisy and stuffy. With all the blokes on one side, all the ladies on the other side, a few over-zealous fellows in the middle with their elbows hitting everywhere...barely missing some poor lady's head or shoulder, it was a scene to watch!
I never really got myself to break a leg. I've fractured it once, but I was not dancing while I fractured my leg.
I was looking into the world outside. It was pleasant outside. The wind hitting the face, the full moon above, the vehicles whizzing past. It was a complete contradiction to what was on the other side of the window. Wasih, a friend of mine probably saw me sitting, lost somewhere. It was when he tugged at my hand, calling me to join the frenzy, that I realized how long I'd been sitting, looking outside. I politely refused. But thereon, I watched the whole monkey-pack bounce around the bus. After sitting around, watching all the commotion for another half an hour, we halted to stuff our bellies for the night. Now, there was something uneventful! For some inexplicable reason, at least till now, I was feeling very strange and uneasy. And No! I wasn't feeling sick from the bus ride! Whatever it was, I was sure that it would be all right after a night's nap. It's like
"You get to see the brighter side of things after a night's nap anyway."
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