19B: Lick me Lick me Not

If you can relate even remotely to the character played by Leonardo Di Caprio in the Movie "Aviator" then it is not advisable to travel on the city buses. We have come a long way from buses having people spit on the floor and all. Buses are relatively neat now a days. However the conductor has not changed much.

In olden days where bundle of tickets were used, the conductor used to lick his finger and touch the bundle just to make sure he issues only one ticket and not two. Then he would have to pay for this grave mistake by maybe paying from his pocket.

One can only imagine that he has to show the number of tickets he has dispatched and pay corresponding money, it is obvious that he had to be extra careful in ensuring he gives you exactly one ticket. If you are receiving the ticket better be careful to know where to touch the ticket and where not to :)

Things have modernized and so have the ticketing system (atleast in AC buses), now there is a machine that instantly prints one and only one ticket and there is no problem for the conductor to give this ticket, he no longer needs to lick his finger before tearing the ticket from the machine. All is safe and clean .

Well one can only hope so as still the money is in his hands, sometimes in the mouth too and the old bank notes sometimes make love to each other and refuse to separate and one has to be a bad parent to separate them. Now what comes handy, the finger and the tongue. They play a good role in making sure he gives you only one ten rupee note rather than two.

One has an advantage now, the 10 rupee and 100 rupee notes have bigger square area, so you have more options where to hold the note and avoid the watered areas :)

19B: The hallucinator

Well if you are lucky or unlucky to sit in the last row and your luck has sold you like match fixers in IPL you may well get to sit next to this hallucinator. 

Yes sometimes life is strange, it may not be as bad as it can but it does show you how bad it can get. This person travels on 19B and have seen him sit in the last corner seat of the bus. He usually keeps his bags to the side to keep some space for himself but would ultimately give up. Then he starts talking to himself or rather to the imaginary friend. It is not just a talk it is a fight and it seems to get physical at times.

He is very decently dressed and one can at first sight identify him as an IT professional. He has a smart phone, buys ticket for his destination and replies to conductor when asked to provide change and all that. He even reads tamil magazines.  One can mistake him to be talking on the phone if he plugs on his ear sets .

However as time progresses one would realize that he literally tries to beat or push the imaginary nearby person and he talks a bit louder mostly saying "no no dont" and sometimes "I need flow diagrams" and sometimes "then we will have to beg on the streets".

So far no one has really freaked out and have given him his space but when he physically moves its a bit of a challenge for person sitting in front and side. He does not harm anybody and no one really cares.
Well is that the problem - No one really cares?

What is his story? I she really employed in an IT firm? Does he undergo medication? Does he have a family? Why no friend accompanies him, if this is just a translational phase?

Well I get down most days with lot of questions but no answer. However he keeps reminding me that life can go anyway one has little he can do.

I sincerely hope he gets well.

19B: Display of the Dog's collar

Earlier posts 19B

First of all no offense meant.

As far as I remember in my childhood only dogs used to have collars which would identify a dog to its owner. Then slowly the IT industry and now every corporate has enforced employees to wear one. Yes I am referring to the ID card that hangs around your neck.

For various reasons mainly related to security, this has been enforced. It makes corporates think that these tags ensure the physical security of their premises. Well there are many loopholes and myths surrounding this (thats for a later post) but anyway these tags provide necessary security.

The ensure the security guard that only authorized person is entering the premises and also doors are now a days access controlled. One is given access to a certain door one and only if he is eligible and needs to use it. Fair enough.

My point here is why should this be displayed in public and in public transport vehicles. This needs an analysis

1. To show off that one works in a reputed company, IT company and is to be respected. Well the conductor gives a damn about it and the autowallah ensures he asks you double when you display your tag.

2. Men may display this again to show off to woo women.

3. Women is where I don't understand why display ID card in public. You are giving more details to a stranger than necessary, One can easily find what company you work for, what is your name, in same cases blood group and why not even home phone number could be there. Why would someone display so much personal info in public.

Beats me!

19B - To Give or Not - A Begging Issue

Begging in India is rampant. This is a known fact, this is also a business for some people. I sometimes feel it is so big that it has to be given an industry status. Yeah the Begging Industry .

One Company of this industry does operate in the T.nagar bus terminus. A bunch of 4 to 5 women with little children are the CXOs of this company. Their labourers are some less than 5 year olds, I sometimes wonder whether these are their own real kids or were they borrowed or stolen from some places. I also wonder if some people rent their kids to these beggars to beg.

One does wonder why should these people give birth to kids whom they cannot take care of, on the other hand it maybe a rampant industry practice to give birth to kids so they can be used as catalysts for begging.

This group must be aged around 35 or so, with very good hands and legs and can do labour work sits idle or sometimes carries the kids around and begs. They also have a chit that says please help us we are affected by Bhuj earthquake . I can only smile on reading this, I was in school when the quake happened and if still these people are suffering , then no wonder they don;t do any work.

The poor kids go around buses, telling people they are hungry and ask for money. I am not sure why the authorities of the stand do not do anything, the bus drivers and conductors do not encourage this. One day the bus started leaving the stand when a kid was still inside and he shouted "anna anna". The driver give a sound trashing to the kid before he let him go out. It was the most unpleasant sight one had to watch in the morning before going to work.

Are they really weak - No they can work, their mothers or so called mothers are physically well fit
Are they their own kids - I doubt, were they kids that were kidnapped from somewhere else? Where is the father? No male is seen around these women.
What are the authorities doing? - Are they getting a share of the loot (yes I call it a loot as it doesn't seem right)

With these hard pressed questions it is difficult for one to give the poor kids any alms. Most likely it is going in to wrong hands and one is only encouraging the practice.

PS: Having said all this, Begging is present all over the world and I have seen beggars in every country. Only difference with India is that its population is huge so the number of beggars are huge. If one takes percentage of total population to that of total beggars it may be mor eor less comparable to other countries.

19B: It is a matter of "change"

On any of the MTC bus you travel in Chennai , change is evident. By change I do not mean the change that Obama meant, it is the change for the currency or the exact bus fare. Conductors are always on the lookout for change, one can evidently see that they are well trained to first look for exact fare from the passenger and only if he/she does not have it they give it.

Fair enough. One can see boards inside the bus and maybe in major bus stands also asking and announcing passengers to tender exact fare. Though reasonable it is not practical. One usually sees that both the conductor and passenger understands the nuances and share the change :)

However sometimes things go out of control, there are the usual response , medium response and big response from conductor.

The usual response is when the conductor says you have to bring change and if  everyone shows me a 100 rupee note how can I give change to everyone and reluctantly gives it or asks for other denominations to match it.

Medium response is when he shouts on top of his voice same as above and is adamant in getting the change or gives the ticket to the person at last after he gets some change. Once it was ridiculous that one of the conductors asked an American lady for change and said "Daily you come by this bus you have to bring change" in a rude voice, the same dialogue which he repeats to all fellow passengers. One for a fact I hardly saw the lady before and it is not easy to spot a white lady in a MTC bus and secondly it was bad advertisement for the country to treat a foreigner like that. I am sure she never would board an MTC bus again.


Big response is when he asks one to get down and stop the bus.

If things go bad one can complain at mtc_edp@dataone.in

However on the flip side of the coin one has to see that it is reasonable for the passenger to carry sufficient or decent change. The conductor usually does not demand all change from you but if you have alternatives he should be happy, except in cases where he is already in a bad mood. One tip would be that if you already know the fare provide some change already, like if ticket is say 45 rupees, you can provide a 100 rupee note with 5 rupee. Mostly the conductor is happy to see the 5 rupee.

In case one needs bigger change for say 500, it is better to let the conductor settle down after issuing tickets or while one is getting down to get a change rather than asking for change when conductor is busy issuing tickets.

A little bit of understanding always helps in a smooth ride and a fresh start to the day.
Well on retrospect, it is true for any relationship too.

Chennai 19B AC - 2 The art of seat grabbing

One reads in the news of politicians fighting for a seat in the assembly or parliament, getting a seat in 19B is no less effort. One has to devise a strategy, follow it , adapt it as the situation demands, ward of opposition and finally enjoy the spoils.

First of all it is a joke when someone does inquire when the next 19B bus is expected. For even the almighty might stutter to provide a clear answer .  On any city planned or unplanned, one can expect traffic, if not for the platform is reserved for two-wheelers type of Bangalore traffic, there is still some traffic on the roads, free-flowing mostly and jammed occasionally. Hence it is necessary that one has a good eye for catching the arrival of the bus, for there is always a deceiving AC bus (576) arriving to throw you off the plan.

There are other ways to spot that your bus is arriving, just watch the fellow software engineer he/she is bound to be like a deer spotting an attacking tiger, when the bus arrives. Not sure where to run when to run and more importantly when the door will open and which one will open.Once it opens one can see a huge rush from all directions pushing through the door.

The IT folks with their gym toned body, which they frequent once a month in their offices, or the huge tummy they built by sitting on their seats forever would be in full use. The poor ladies try to squeeze in between only to be pushed. Whether the front door alone opens or the back door also opens is a mystery even Sherlock Holmes would find difficult to tell.

All this applies if one stands outside the main bus stand and waits for the bus to drop currently traveling passengers. One wonders how this has become the norm of catching a seat for there is no clear rule on where a bus should stop to take its passengers.

The above rule applies to the active seat seekers. The passive seat seekers stand in the shade behind the bus stand, probably this is the original stipulated bus stop. These people probably do not mind standing inside the bus, some wait for the next empty bus which sometimes comes right behind.

Given the fact that it is sunny and hot even on a December Morning, one wonders the determination to grab a seat, one can only empathize the long travel time if someone travels to places like Siruseri, Navalur and beyond. They wait with their coloured umbrellas and red caps to brave the sun to grab a seat to start the long day at work as fresh as possible.

Chennai 19B AC - A Journey - 1

In Chennai most of the Software crowd go to one road that was called OMR (Old Mahabalipuram Road), now called as Rajiv Gandhi Salai. Many buses ply on this route but the software engineers prefer AC bus since it is more comfortable, it is a volvo bus. It plies from T.Nagar to Kelambakkam.
This is a series I am planning to write on my experiences the various people, rather characters I see, the talkative man (reminding me of Malgudi Days), the women with a burned hand, the ever sad girl , the girl that boards the bus only when there is a seat and so many more.

Getting the seat in the bus is itself an art . The bus I feel is very different from other normal buses is the fact that the crowd is very different here, when one takes other normal (non AC) buses one can feel the different quite easily.

All these for later posts, this is just an intro of things to come.
Now if you accidentally stumbled here to know the route timings I am not going to disappoint





The author takes absolutely no responsibility for delays in above timings as according to law of public transport in  Chennai "only when autos in Chennai run on meter, buses will run on time"