~Roadtrip~

“aa jao aa jao Pilani bhiwani bhiwani bhiwani pilani… aaa jaao bhaiya kahaan jaaoge??”

“Pilani ka ek dena”

That is how it all starts. The momentous journey to pilani kicks off with the conductor who sells tickets like the vegetables in a downtrodden sabzi-mandi. People hustling with excess baggage, students and (more importantly) their parents huffing and puffing through the huge bus terminal all the while telling their kids how important focussing on their long terms goals are: “acha xyz iss sem man lagaake padhna, aur 6 mat laana thoda samajh ke padho…blah blah blah…”. These are just a select few of the huge magnitude of sights to catch at the ISBT bus terminal New Delhi at this time of the year.

Quietly settled in a corner of the bus, i sit, watching all this happening outside and more inside. The scene inside the bus being the more amusing of the two. Luggage hanging out from every nook and cranny, at every theoretically impossible angle, placed very precariously, and displaying expert skills which had me, a budding engineer, ashamed. Further still, the people, on first look seem to be the bus, literally. Everyone merges with the structure so seamlessly that is makes one wonder if this what the swamis mean when they tell us to be “one with our surroundings” (!) The conductor keeps pulling tickets out of his magic-bag, that never seems to run out of them, and people keep flowing in, till the bus floor starts to creak. That is the signal for the driver to start his vehicle, which comes to life with a huge groan and then staggers out of the station.

The trip, per se, is quite mundane. But the variety of people around you, add the spice and fun to the journey. With animated debates, fights, luggage dropping out from all over, snapping drowsy passengers out of their trance. A couple of quiet ladies exactly behind me, suddenly erupt into an explosive conversation, the topic of which i could not make head or tail of. Slowly and steadily the chaos dies down with the advent of the afternoon sun to its throne atop the sky. The only sound heard amongst the other unobtrusive snores is that of the bus, still whining under the weight of all its peaceful occupants. The occasional smoke puff floats in from the driver’s cabin, triggering a cough and an unhappy grunt from some people. These are the most excruciating hours of the journey, sans any action and rid of sleep due to anxiety, the only option left is to pull out my mp3 for music, an action seems to trigger some sort of nerve in people around as they get up and start giving you the coldest of stares.

After 6 hours of the above, the bus finally rolls into the inviting streets of pilani. I de-board the bus, only to be greeted with the streets of BITS,Pilani highly decorated by the birds in the trees overhead, as if anticipating my arrival. With one deep breath i fill in all the floating aromas of the mess food, the “decorations” on the street, the soggy buildings, new coats of white-wash on antique walls……… ahhhhh…. home sweet home!!