A blogpost by a friend of mine on decency reminded me of this incident.
This was the year I shifted to Chennai (Madras back then) from Kolkata (Calcutta) - 1990, was all of 17 or 18 max. I was staying at my aunt's place in West Chennai and my dance class was at the other end of the city, near the beach on the easter side. A good one hour by bus, the only means of transport on those days.
I had to go for rehearsal at 11 or something on a Sunday, and that Monday there was to be a bandh. On Sundays, as it is only 40% of the buses would ply on the road.
By the time I got a bus and reached my class, it was 1. I finished in a couple of hours and returned to the bus stop. Knowing it was no use waiting for the direct bus, I decided to get into whichever bus came, and change at the next point. I got into a bus where the number looked unfamiliar, but the route written on the side suggested that I would cover half the distance. Since students were issued passes, I didn't need to tell the conductor my stop name. Ironically, I saw the direct bus right behind this, but didn't attempt to take that.
To my surprise, the bus started moving north. I could still have got off at a point from where I would have got another bus. But assuming it was taking a circuitous route I waited, and landed up in North Madras, in a place that I didn't recognise.
Panicking, I finally asked the conductor, who had realised that I was lost but was hesitant to approach. The driver was taking the bus out to park it in the depot and offered to drop me at the main road. As I was getting off, the conductor offered me money. I refused, standing on my pride. They advised me to take an auto.
Autos were a scary thought those days. But realising I was very late, I caught one, only to land up with one where the driver had a companion. It was almost 7 by now - and for me, a completely scary experience. We took a route that I was not familiar with, and all gods must have been called to protect me that day.
They did an overtime job and I reached my aunt's house safely. The driver and his companion had been as scared as me when we lost the way in one of the neighbourhoods.
I realised that we underrate our human fellows, most of whom are incapable of thinking up harm to others. A handful of those who do spoil our image of our fellow human beings.
This was the year I shifted to Chennai (Madras back then) from Kolkata (Calcutta) - 1990, was all of 17 or 18 max. I was staying at my aunt's place in West Chennai and my dance class was at the other end of the city, near the beach on the easter side. A good one hour by bus, the only means of transport on those days.
I had to go for rehearsal at 11 or something on a Sunday, and that Monday there was to be a bandh. On Sundays, as it is only 40% of the buses would ply on the road.
By the time I got a bus and reached my class, it was 1. I finished in a couple of hours and returned to the bus stop. Knowing it was no use waiting for the direct bus, I decided to get into whichever bus came, and change at the next point. I got into a bus where the number looked unfamiliar, but the route written on the side suggested that I would cover half the distance. Since students were issued passes, I didn't need to tell the conductor my stop name. Ironically, I saw the direct bus right behind this, but didn't attempt to take that.
To my surprise, the bus started moving north. I could still have got off at a point from where I would have got another bus. But assuming it was taking a circuitous route I waited, and landed up in North Madras, in a place that I didn't recognise.
Panicking, I finally asked the conductor, who had realised that I was lost but was hesitant to approach. The driver was taking the bus out to park it in the depot and offered to drop me at the main road. As I was getting off, the conductor offered me money. I refused, standing on my pride. They advised me to take an auto.
Autos were a scary thought those days. But realising I was very late, I caught one, only to land up with one where the driver had a companion. It was almost 7 by now - and for me, a completely scary experience. We took a route that I was not familiar with, and all gods must have been called to protect me that day.
They did an overtime job and I reached my aunt's house safely. The driver and his companion had been as scared as me when we lost the way in one of the neighbourhoods.
I realised that we underrate our human fellows, most of whom are incapable of thinking up harm to others. A handful of those who do spoil our image of our fellow human beings.
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