Thursday, August 23, 2007

Buses and the Brakes

The post about the van rides set me thinking about the thrill of the brakes.I avoid travelling by the public transport in Chennai and on the contrary, I long to do the same in Kerala.I did it this time when I went home.

The old lady was swept in the most undignified manner from the middle seat of the last row to my left at the centre of the bus.I helped the unfortunate lady to regain her balance and offered her my seat.Why did the driver not slow down inspite of knowing that we were approaching the bus stop?Carelessness?

Travelling by bus is an experience by itself.Most of the pleasure is due to the driver's driving ( sudden brakes??) skills.I went to school by the school bus during my11th &12th std.And our bus was manned by a rather attractive cheeky driver in his mid twenties.The bus would start with a dare-devil speed and brake suddenly, again accelerate and brake suddenly.While some rushed to reserve their seats, the others were left at the mercy of the big vehicle.Every sudden brake or a pause would bring forth some loud "Ooohhss and Aaaahhss" along with some squeals from all of us.

And we wondered why was this sudden braking so frequently done? The reason was a 12th std girl was given the honour of standing near the entrance at the driver's end.She was beauty personified, used to hold the vertical handle with her oh so delicate hand and she exchanged occassional glances with the driver at whose hands lay the fate of the bus.With every brake,they would exchange a glance or two, the driver grinning and she would plaster a sweet smile.We could easily sense the growing attraction between the two.But the sudden brakes totally disappeared after she left school to join college.No chaos in the bus.The thrill of brakes disappeared that even now, whenever I travel by a bus and there is a sudden brake, I cant help but reminicse the unspoken love tale of the driver and that beautiful girl and wondeing about what would have happened if they had just talked! For in the entire period of their silent communication, they never once spoke to each other.

14 comments:

Albert Einstein said...

Your writing is improving by every blog :-) (Nejamave). Parvayale pathathukke avlavu brake ah irundha Pesi irundha enna aiyirkum - Good thinking......

Excellent!!!

smyLeMaKEr said...

R ya preparing for TOEFEL?
Or romba inglipees novels padikkariyaa???

The language n presentation of ur blogs are constantly going up the curve!

Good work. Keep going. Lets plan to write a 'novel' novel in partnership :-))

ss said...

@ALBERT
thank u, we actually wondered the outcome had they spoken to each other..

@SMYLEMAKER
its the effect of reading mills n boons novels..

Sriram said...

SUbha yenna solradhunae therila..
nee yengayo poindrukka.. paar kadalai kindinaa varum amudha surabhi maadhri un yezhuthu vazhiyaradhae..
Avanga rendu paerum paesinrundhaa "thottu thottu yennai" range la paadi andha driver"nyanyanyanyanaa" nu aayiruppaan paavam..
Idhoda mudinjadhu nalladhaa poachu..
nice nostalgia nu sollu..
well portrayed.. yen kan munnaadi andha super figure um driver um nikkaranaga..

Unknown said...

A brief bus affair huh? LOL!The typical innocent infatuation of that age.Romance and humour at its best. Very nice

Gomathy said...

hey a real good post... i thought u were gonna tell something abt the rash driving in kerala but this was ausumn... keep up the good work :)

ss said...

@POOJA
yes, a brief affair( infatuation) indeed! thanks for the comments

@AMISHA
thank u di

Anonymous said...

Awesome shub.Busa vechu oru romantic story sollitta
great post

sudha said...

untold love story of driver n the girl..interesting!!!.....not all love stories have happy ending...but tis story has one happy ending- in the sense that the driver is not harrassing the passengers with sudden brakes!!!

ss said...

@ SRIRAM
thank u so much for all ur appreciation.un imagination/ creativitykku oru alavey illa.

@ CLUELESS
thanks, i can never forget this incident

@SUDHA
oh ya, he did stop those sudden brakes.

Unknown said...

"They never spoke..???"

well, how do you know..?? ;).. anyway dat was a good narration..!!!

ss said...

@SIDDHART
ya they never spoke.the only time they met was wen they were in the bus and all those times, they never spoke. yean da unakku mattum ippdi ellam questions thonarathu?

Praveen Daniel said...

hmm..Solladha Kaadhal na!!!...so sad...Anyway u people had great experience in the bus journey rite!! ha ha....Cool!!!

ss said...

@PRAVEEN
ya, they never spoke..but guess thats wat makes the whole thing interesting..dont know what wud have happened if they had spoken.