With the monsoons setting in, I relegated my bike to my building parking and started taking the company bus. The last rainy season I did endure the rains to get to office and back but the entire episode was not exactly comfortable. Sitting wet in a Air Conditioned office for some 8 odd hours is not a joke. Well thank God I didnt catch pneumonia the one which is so often mentioned in Bollywood flicks...
So after getting the feel of the discomfort this time around I decided to take the bus to the office starting 1st of June (that officially when the monsoon begins atleast for me.)
But I was soon to find out that if the bike ride to office was ridden with traffic snarls, rains, potholes and the occasional encounter with the traffic policeman the ride in the bus was more painstaking.
On the very first bus ride i understood that to get a seat in the bus you have to be at the Infy bus stop some 10 mins early. I am fortunate that a bus starts from my place or it would really not matter if I am there 10 mins early or 10 hours early. Getting to the bus stop 10 minutes early was the easy part.
The bus takes some 45 mins to get to the office. On the first ride after securing the window seat (for the first ride too i got 10 minutes early..was actually skeptical about the timing) what struck me was that; what was I going to do for 45 mins!!!! Thats hell lot of a time..and whatever i do in these 45 mins is surely gonna impact my enire day in office. If I sleep, I will be feeling sluggish to start with in office if I try to think too much looking out of the window, i might exhaust myself too much. If I call somebody up to while away time talking the only thing I would be shouting will be "Kai, zhorat bolte ka!!!" (What , will you please speak up). So I had to have a plan to pass these crucial 45 mins of the day. And then in my first ride with nothing to do I started chalking out a plan as to how to while away those 45 mins...
Experiment 1: Newspaper
To while away time in the bus I decided to read the daily newspaper. It was not a original thought, I had seen many peeps in the bus do that. I buy a copy of the TOI and get in the bus. Now TOI comes with a complimentary copy of the Pune Mirror: a cheapo tabloid... Anyways I get in the bus, get a window seat and keeping the Pune Mirror aside start skimming the paper. The bus starts filling in and very soon I get a neighbour who it seems is trying to occupy more than his share of the seat. This usually happens because many software professionals cannot be classified as a single entity especially when they occupy seats in the public transport. After minor adjustments we kinda fit in and settle down. I am waiting for a pothole or a speed breaker to unsetle us so that I can immediatley seize more of the ground (read seat).
I am done reading the first page..now what....who and how will anyone turn to page 2. That would take an enormous effort. First Ill have to disengage my right shoulder which was stuck behind my nieghbours left shoulder and risk losing ground. Also with the wind blowing in from the window kya guarantee that I would be able to turn to pg 2 and fold the newspaper without getting it all in my face. In that eventuality it will reqire even more effort. On top of all this my neighbour was sleeping, it was not worth it at all. Newspaper scrapped.
Experiment 2: Reading a novel
With the newspaper out of the window, i switched to reading novels. I figured that novels being smaller than newpapers would not involve much page turning effort and also that way I will not have to curb my curiosity till I got back home to continue on my story. I was nearing a solution I felt.
So the next day I started with the novel. I was engrossed in it, I was happy too that i had found the solution but just then I heard the blaring of the bus speaker. It was RADIO MIRCHI. It was also there with the newspaper experiment just that it hadnt registered in my head. Now that I didnt have issues with page turning this blaring radio was getting to me. I looked around and my colleagues were enjoying it. It was foolish anyways to expect that the driver would lower the volume or switch it off because only one passenger was getting DISTURBED. I tried to concentrate more but i was an effort, also i was losing grip on the novel. I shut the novel and gave a disgruntled stare to speaker. I mocked me I think with a boring SUD (call me sudharshan) PJ.
Experiment 3: Music
I will counter the BUS SPEAKER with high definition music. My apple ipod was the answer.ha ha ha (i gave a devilish laugh..). So the next day i came all decked with the ipod (my own), cool looking headphones (borrowed from my roomie) and took the window seat. I started the ipod and couldnt hear even a bit of the radio. I was happy even though my ears were beginning to hurt thanks to the high volume i had set to counter the radio. But the happiness was short lived. I got a pat on the shoulder and my neighbour asked me to turn the volume down. The ipod was blasting and the music was ripping out of the headphones and disturbing my neighbour. I had to lower it. But then for the rest of the ride I listened to AEROSMITH+Abhijeet, IRON MAIDEN+Shankar Mahadevan.....
Experiment 4: Shut up and look out
This was the last option. Atleast in the monsoons it is green and good to look outside, so I think I should not have any troble in doing this. But many times I dont get a window seat then I have to stare at my neighbours face when he/she is looking out (because his/her face is blocking the view) or gaze into nothingness. I started to read the instuctions pasted on the inside of the bus but then they remain the same and I have memorised most of it. So if I dont get the window seat I just SHUT UP.
And then they ask me in office, "Hey Advait, why you seem so quiet when you get in?" and I whisper to myself, " SHUT UP!!!!"