Careless Whispers

Ever felt that the whole world is conspiring against u? Well I get that feeling quite often, mostly its in the BEST buses. The conspiracy begins as the day ends, after a long tiring day u get out of the office to realise that u’ve just missed the office bus and will have to struggle it out on the BEST buses. U resign to the fate and get to the bus stop to find that suddenly all the buses are going in the opposite direction, and even those that are coming are not the ones on your route. U start realising that its that kind of a day, wen come wat may u have to, u will be F***ed.

After waiting for wat seems like ages u see it an overcrowded bus coming ur way, its the bus, the very bus u had been waiting for and u make ur self mentally prepared to somehow get into the overflowing bus. However the bus moves a lil ahead of its usual stop and those at the back suddenly become the ones in front. Not willing to let all those hrs of wait go to waste, u decide to get on the bus even thou more than half of the queue has decided otherwise and somehow u manage to do that, half ur body dangling outside but at least ur on. The bus moves slowly towards home sweet home, and u move slowly inside the bus. Then u look back and see another bus for the same place coming from behind and surprise surprise, this ones got lots of empty space. But u r too bloody packed to get to the exit before the next stop and even if by any chance u do get to the door, the other bus already over took u. Next u reach the highway to find that its jam packed and it might take u hrs to reach home, so u decide u want to take a train, u get down at some stop and decide to take another bus or auto, but as soon as u take the turn u find urself in the same sticky situation, similar traffic, similar jam. U’ve had too much and now there is just one option take the bulls by the horn, u start walking and after ages reach the station. But if u thought the tough part is over, think again. For a new comer getting into or out of the locals during rush hour can be a nightmare, but ur determination finally got u thru. But a conspiracy, if planned perfectly cant let u go so easily, just before ur home station the train stops, without any reason (they say there’s no signal, but u know better), or else y other trains zoomed past u while only that train was stopped?

Finally the ordeal is over, it takes u almost 2 to 2 and a half hrs from office to home, the same 2 hrs would have taken u to Calcutta from Kgp, or to Jamshedpur, or a lil more than that and u’ve reached Ranchi form Jamshedpur.

But slowly u come to terms wid life in Mumbai, u get to know the tricks of the trade, u start to understand how and wen to strategically let a bus go, u understand how to balance ur odds between the relatively less crowded buses and the always full locals. U also realise which local, from which platform u should let go if its more than x minutes delayed (the value of x is determined from x-perience). U know that the conspiracy is not against u but all "freshers". Welcome to Mumbai, but without ragging?? Forget it.