ST Buses.. The Red Riding HOODS.....

Another test under the scanner, it was time to hit out... & be away from the gang & all that college talk..... No booze this time round.. In fact, booze was never meant for me..I feel... The overhanging feeling makes the effort come to naught....

So, decided to hit out on an ST Trail.... well yes.. roaming around in an ST Bus..
Uran; which lies in my backyard... has been on my mind for a while... Given that, the marketing test got over in an hours time, meant I had some free time to make use of...Caught the ST bus for URAN.. . was there in about 30 min.. Wonder if Dronagiri & Uran are one & the same place..
Anyways, from there on, decided to hit out to the Ferry to catch a glimpse of the boats & the activity around it... The nearest Ferry was @ Karanja... a 20min auto drive from the ST stand.

Karanja is like any other fishing village, with trawlers large & small bobbling in the low tide. As i reached the jetty, the thoought of extending the trip, kind of hit me... And so it began...with Alibaug just a stones throw away... wanted to make the most of the opportunity to hit the water.. A brief wait, some chai & bang.. hadmanaged to reach the opposite shore.... REWAS.. the ferry ride was short.. lasted about 15min.. South Mumbai, seemed so close from there... Wonder how it would be to travel to S-Mumabi, everyday by the oceanliner...!!

It was dusk, by the time i set foot on Rewas... the plan was to reach Alibaug & come back in an ST. Having been there about 12 years back, had vague memories of the place... So, was a good time to test my knowledge & also revisit the place. Had grossly underestimated the time between Rewas & Alibaug.. The 23 km distance took about an hr to cover, in teh 10 seater TUM TUM... being a Sunday, ST traffic was minimal on that route...

The smells & sound while travelling through vast open country side is always a pleasure.. especially after an overdose of late nights & exam stress... the 23km skimmed through with ppl moving & out of the Airawath... Reached Alibaug by abt 7.45pm... & headed straight for the ST stand.. Had mentally prepared myself to spend the night @ the ST stand, in case buses were not available.... But hey, when in Maharashtra, there is always an ST to take u around...

With the bus for Dadar leaving @ 8.30pm, had some spare time to catch up on my memories....apart from hogging on chikkos & local alphonso's.....

The sight of an incoming ST bus, creates a beehive of activity & frenzy.. the young & the old, the plump & puny.. all seem to be confident of stopping the goddam busin its tracks, even before it has parked... The smallest of the lot, have the dishonour being dumped through the window..with the only intention of reserving a space..... As for the elderly lot.. the BUS seems to have no feelings... well, lets say, atleast in one place they show no reservation & believe in equality....

After the initial harakiri, i managed to get a seat, right @ the back.... It took a while before the storm/excitement to subside..... The less fortunate ones had to stand all the way through....

Once peace & normalcy is restored, it gave me an opportunity to study the various characters in & around my vicinity....
To my immediate left was an elderly chap returning from a marriage; he was busy munching samosas with Pepsi...
To my left was a young couple. When she was not yelling on the phone, informing her folks abouyt her whereabouts, it was Snoooze time...
Behind me were a boisterous bunch, who were low on excitement & so had managed to bring along 1/2 a bottle of whisky. Water was always @ hand.. & so the spirits were relatively high.
Ahead of me, was a kiddo & next to her came this aunty of a reasonably good frame.

Standing in the midst of all this, were 2 gujju business men.... When one of them was not explaining about the various business opportunities, the cell ensured that he was kept busy....

And so the Journey began.... @ the said time..8.30pm.

No sooner had we done a 20 min drive, the bloke next to me, would time & again retract his head from the window.... This was in sync with the lady ahead who would peek out of the window.. After a while, there was tablet of Ovamil being offered... Then , it dawned .. it was case of Tummy Upheaval accompanied by some Desperate Face Saving measures ...

With cell phones ringing, the one among the Whisky boys had a plan... & this is what he said....
" Mala phone de na... majha ITEM la phone karto......!! "
reply - " Aigeee... ata naaahi... Ajoon IDEA aaahe......; Panvel nantar, use kar... tya pudhe roaming nasnaar.." Wonder how good or bad an IDEA it was to keep the ITEm waiting.....

As for the gujju bhais... there was an incident which led to one of the Mota bais to blurting out..
" Aisi cheejein, kabhi kabhi LuckBy Chance hi hota hai....."

Finally managed to hit base @ about 10.30pm, after a 2 hr return journey back...
All in all, it was a chill trip, decided on the fly..

I guess, as people evolve, they just tend to loose touch with reality.... & develop hangups .... Travelling in an ST bus, with broken seats, window frames, hard cushioned seats, etc..etc... seem to draw the ire & frustration of those who are used to other luxuries....

All said, ST buses in some way do mange to link u with the masses & gives one an oportunity to appreciate the enoromous task they undertake of transporting ppl across the state; with the bare minimum of facilities.....

Hats off to the ST Red Riding Hoods.........

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

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Exam .... what a stressfull word.....

Wonder why....Wonder how.. those 4 letters could make u growl.... I wonder....!!
They say Familiarity breeds contempt. Would that be so....

From Yell(L) KG to Ooo(U)KG, right through those golden years of yore, into adolescence & adult(Robin) hood, the 4 letters keep pace, following u'r every move... keeping track of all that wasted time; be it playing around, getting drunk, courting,... as diligently as the Hutch Puggy would.
Try to outwit it; & ghosh ... it mutilates your score card.....
Try to bunk it; & society for no better reason; throws u into the dungeon.....
Some have even tried the technique of " To Win Some, you need to loose some"... failure in exams; have always had a detrimental effect on the most genial of souls....

King Cliff was one lucky soul to have sung the song....
"We’re all going on a summer holiday.
No more working for a week or two.
Fun and laughter on a summer holiday.
No more worries for me and you.
For a week or two.

We’re going where the sun shines brightly.
We’re going where the sea is blue.
We’ve seen it in the movies.
Now let’s see if it’s true.

Everybody has a summer holiday
Doing things they always wanted to.
So we’re going on a summer holiday
To make our dreams come true
For me and you."

Summer Holiday.... sounds like a relic as precious as space dust. Summer are meant for Suresh Dani Classes, Agarwall Classes, Brilliant tutorials & many more... not to mention the space age names like Career Launcher, IMS, or whatever.... talking of names, why no Zaphod Beeblebrox Patshala or Venus'n'Veronica's Tutorials or a PlayboyPlaystation... atleast, there should be some motivation to enter the premises of these hollowed institutions....
Hey,.but that's not, what I was trying to convey..... The 4 letters whom i intend to nickname HYDRA- The BigBULLY ( see latest snapshoot of Hydra) for reasons I cant fathom, has already spread its tentacles. Just like the carnivourous pplant HYDRA, this chap keep luring unsuspecting souls into its Honey trap. At this juncture, I am tempted to give it some feminine attributes; considering its abilities to lure wide eyed boys.. More research needs to be done & also the feminists voice needs to be pacified..More on that later....

Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so. Douglas Adams

So, where were we...Hydra has managed to wreck havoc with the productive lifecycle of a homo sapien. But surprisingly nobody seems to be complaining.... Nuclear, Narmada, Rabri's & Dubya seem to be grabbing world attention...... Even after all these years, with no sight of reforms being applied to reign in the wily old Control Freak called HYDRA, she still manages to torment me.

Only if she could present her physical self, I would be fighting a public interest litigation against her for causing general Amnesia, Dark Circle, Alopecia (loss of hair), & many more of such ghastly disorders..... Huhh.. got myself worked up .... what else to do...

Economics, the most philosophical of subjects got marauded under the spell of...whoe else but Hypnotic Hydra... the DEeeepp Daark Circles... as mysterious as they might sound, occupying the contours of my gentle face...share a tale of struggle, perseverance, endless cups of chai & tummy ache... ( blame it on the chai... n acidity n gas...n .... hunger)..Some say, hunger makes the head muscles work more efficiently... I must agree to this Prognosis.. there definitely is some truth in it..

But all said... the Hydra babe does manage to make an impact on the object of her desire..in this case, it is yours truly......
All those Eco concepts which never made sense; rather was never given an opportunity to do so, has in the twinking of an eye, become so very easy.. ( i hope, i am not shooting my mouth off.... the results are still awaited...) Once u r numbed to the point of insanity by the hyddish scent of Hydra, the late nights, candle lights, ..etc tend to make the grey cells more efficient,Centeris Paribus( as per Eco..everything else assumed to be constant).

With increased efficiency, the marginal utility of each & every moment spent worshipping the books have a +ve effect on the general psyche... However such benefits are rather short lived.... Even before u have managed to take a breather for a job well done, Horny Hydra is back to her dirty tricks....

I guess, this is where i need to say Adeau... for by now, you have been infected by the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility... Anymore, & u might just start cursing me....

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

Douglas Adams