It is 9 on a Sunday morning , quite early for lazy city bugs, an ordinary bus of Midhani depot pulls out of Women's college bus stop only to crash in to an on coming deluxe from Dilsukhnagar. The bus of BHEL depot manages to stop after a a good 300 meters, a bit long . A close look in to the accident reveals driver's leg is stuck in the mangled bus. As the news spread all over, news reporters drop in. Anxious to capture the moment , they push aside all the curious onlookers who by now have started their own assumptions of the drivers being irresponsible. It is almost always a pre-conceived notion that the bigger ones on the road are at to be mistaken always (well,most of the times).
Doing its last service, A deluxe from Githam university (rudraram) is rushing towards hayathnagar-it's destination, the bus rips through Dilskhnagar and there is an evident smile on the drivers face that is he is going to be home soon . Let me just ask you a question ? when did you last see a smiling crew. They say staying happy keeps you healthy. The situation I mentioned is when there are hardly any passengers in the bus . But what about when it is packed ? We cant even wait for a 2 minute stop for the poor conductor to issue tickets. Anxious people standing in the bus start killing the roof of the bus often shouting at the driver. The driver heeds in the pressure and starts off the bus as the conductor prays to him/her self that there is no ticket check and if the prayers are not heard much to the agony of frustrated passengers, the bus may be stopped for checking . The rules here are very interesting . It is more harmful for a conductor rather than the passengers travelling with out ticket.
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| rights and resposibilities |
As the buses push them selves through heavy traffic on roads dug up in the middle by metro and left by transco , bikers sneak though the little gap left irritating the drivers who are sitting in an oven with only a fancy mirror of their own depot's brand to look what is coming from behind. While they are literally blind , disaster strikes. Saying we wont leave you, a bike an auto or even a car crash in to the bus breaking the tail lamps and efficiently creating beautiful contours on the bus. While the latter get crude treatment in the depots , former get insurance. A jewel lost for once is lost forever for a bus unless it is sent for special treatment on loss making universally un profitable air port routes.
Reserved seats ! yeah a true love for fights in all tin boxes. before any thing more let us get it straight . a deluxe (marcopolo low floor) has 37 seats - 17 on upper deck and 20 on the lower. while initially one row was marked as general one for physically challenged and elderly , others were reserved for women . After much resistance from women, most of the from BHEL, Myp-2 and HYT depots all the seats barring the one row for phc and elderly were reserved for women. Why am I only talking about deluxes where men sit on an active volcano, stand on a plane and women are forced in to a valley ? These are the best ones where I have seen most lively fights given the confusion. HYT depot has gone a step forward and reserved two more seats for elderly. this has made women more furious , rightfully in most cases I would say as middle aged men act to be seniors and grab the seats reserved for them (which they think are). Now i ll try to be more male chauvinistic and say considering 33% reservations for women, only 13 of 37 seats should be reserved for women.
While ignorant men occupy seats reserved for women, women occupy the seats reserved for physically challenged. most of the cases if the person who really can't stand might not ask for a seat. It does not mean you are given right to sit there. while some ask and even fight for their right, some just pass away.
Leaving all the calculations away, let us just think for a moment . As a responsible citizen of the city, isn't it our responsibility to give away seat to the ones who really need it ? or should we still wait for the government make more and more laws .
It is not a blanket opinion on every one regarding the seats . I my self have seen many giving away their seats for elderly and those who really need. I have taken the fruit many times after sleep less nights in to submissions. From the next time around when you take a bus just think once, think for a while what people have been going though their day, you might be on a hurry to reach your destination but the driver conductor and your co passengers are humans too :) While we enjoy our rights, it is time for us to start being responsible towards our city - our country and yeah our planet (may be).
