An inescapable part of living in Mumbai is using the B.E.ST. buses and local trains. If I start hailing a rick every time I need to go somewhere, I might as well buy a chartered plane and get done with it (Buying a chartered plane is expensive-Auto rickshaws are expensive. You get it right?? :P ).
I’d like to clear the air….I’m not writing this as a rant on the poor conditions of public transport in Mumbai. No Sir…I, am going to tell you a story.
There was once a girl. She had just started working and in the essence of being all responsible and prudent about spending money, she decided she would travel only by B.E.S.T. buses. The distance between the girl’s home and office was very less by Mumbai standards. All she would have to do to follow her resolution was:
- Walk from her house to the bus stop.
- Wait for the bus.
- Get on the bus.
- Pay the fare (I think I’m stating the obvious here.)
- Get off the bus.
- Walk to her workplace.
- Follow steps 6 to 1 (replacing to with from and vice-versa) in the evening.
- Day=Day+1.
- If not a weekend go to step 1.
I can explain it in a short, 9-step algorithm….that’s how simple it is…….
But when was simple going to appeal to our subject.
Ideally she should have googled the buses that would ferry her to and fro, noted the timings and happily continued with the rest of her life. But did she do the normal thing ??? No Sir, she had to think out of the box. I mean who thinks about being spontaneous while catching a bus?? Creating complications is not everyone’s cup of tea.
Now her bus-stop was on the highway and she had to take a right turn at a junction a couple of stops away to reach office. So she figured that since the aforementioned junction was a typical one with a straight road and two turns, one right and one left, there was a 1/3rd probability that the next bus halting at her stop would take the right turn. So effectively, one in three buses would take her to her destination.
Armed with this piece of mathematical theory, she went along with her original plan. What she failed to grasp was that mathematical assumptions do not always coincide with reality and especially not in the case of B.E.S.T. But realization did hit her if only after two days :D.
So each time a bus stopped our leading lady would inquire if it would take her to XYZ (her destination). After a few embarrassing incidents (being told to get off the wrong bus, etc, etc) she was now pretty sure that buses going to A, B, C, D places would take her to XYZ. Keeping this in mind, she got into the bus heading for A one day.
This was the conversation that ensued.
Girl: Bhaiya XYZ ka ticket dena.
Conductor: Madam ye bus waha nahi jaati.
Girl: Par kal hi to mai A jaanewale bus me baithi thi…tab to wo gaadi XYZ jaati thi?? Ek din me route badal gaya??
Conductor: Kya madam!!! Wo bus no. 123 tha ye bus no. 124 hai.
By now you’ve probably come to the conclusion that this entire conversation could’ve been avoided had the girl just remembered the bus numbers. But you should stop to think……
Would an independent, self-confident girl like her allow herself to do things the way mere mortals do??? Naah!!!!!! she would never let her destination be defined by a lowly 3-digit number.
What finally happened was that the girl was forced to get off at the junction and walk the rest of the way. Unfazed by this she told herself that the walk was a good exercise. This continued for some time. On some days she would get on the right bus, on the others she would get off the bus at the junction and march down to office.
Then one fine day, she had had enough. She was fed up with the uncertainties of life. So standing at the bus stop waiting for her bus, she took out her phone and googled the buses in her route. While our girl was mentally patting her back for nothing could stop her from boarding the right bus now , she thought she heard a bus halt at the stop. She looked up a few seconds later only to see the bus leaving and to her utter dismay this one would have taken her to XYZ. So all the google search results went for a toss and she decided to just wing it when it came to buses.
Even today catching a bus is an everyday struggle for her. There are days when she’s waiting to cross the road to her bus-stop and she sees her bus drive by on the other side. Some days she is lucky to get the right bus and on the others, she walks from the junction. And there are days she’s too frustrated to wait for a bus and takes the easy way out and catches a rick. It’s a difficult world out there if you decide to be rebellious and not remember bus numbers. But that girl is still unyielding. She doesn’t give in to temptation and is a firm believer of her err….beliefs
You never know…the next time you are waiting for the bus you may see this girl and when you do, remember this story… and support her…… because she is the one and the only…… “The girl who didn’t know the bus number”…….
FIN.
