Taste of luxury

Last week I thought I would save my self a paltry-but-still-it's-a-saving of 39x4 rupees. Not a large sum by any standards, but still the though of paying just 1 Re for the one and a half hour ride to office in the comfy air-conditioned Volvo buses was exciting. Little did I know that this seemingly great scheme on the Vayu Vajra buses in Bangalore for 4 days would backfire…

On Thursday morning, I put a single penny in my pocket. "That's all I'm going to have to pay for my bus ride today" – I was thrilled, the kinda excitement one gets when one finds one's favourite brand of soap on the supermarket on a buy-one-get-one-free offer – doesn’t matter that a bar costs only 17 bucks in the first place. Well, I didn't quite believe that the fare would only be a rupee, despite reading about it in the paper over my morning chai... you can't blame me, this is India, you know... (Always doubt what you read, and most of what you see too. No, seeing, can often be mis-leading not believing!) So, I popped some back up green notes in my outer pocket too. I headed out for the bus stand, and waited for the bus. Everything seemed normal, except the conductor issued me a ticket for Re 1 instead of the regular Rs 40, and I smirkingly, handed over my penny and took a seat. But as the journey advanced, the bus seemed to be stopping everywhere and the bus just got fuller and fuller. All thanks to the conductor-ess (is that the right term for a female conductor?) who shouted out at each stop – Majestic Majestic, only 1 rupee! The regulars who boarded the bus though seemed a bit clue-less about the scheme and disgruntled to say the least when they couldn’t find seats. Somewhere along the way, the conductoress realized that her calling out was not making things any better, and she stopped, thank goodness! For the bus was not only full but people were threatening to hang out if the doors had been left open! So much for giving the common man a taste of luxury!
This was day 1. Only about 25% of Bangalore knew about the scheme.
On day two I took the ordinary bus…. a little more than what I would’ve paid on my ‘regular’ bus, but I got a seat, didn’t get pushed around (thanks to all the regulars on this bus being in the ac one), and reached office comfortably!

What got me even more worked up was that after the fiasco of the 4 days the BMTC made a huge hue and cry to the media about what a raving success their initiative was…. Really, making the nice luxury buses, the only option for people like me (ie those who aren't pushy enough to travel in the local buses, and also, can't stand to stand for an hour and half with my nose somewhere in the vicinity of some person's not-so-scented armpits), into stinky crowded normal buses. How can they pile on the people in the luxury bus, make them stand and push their elbows into their fellow passengers ribs, and then say they are giving them a taste of luxury??? Of course, if a smooth ride (though a crowded and smelly one) is their idea of luxury – then I guess the BMTC succeeded. No maybe it's the fact that many experienced a ride in an air conditioned bus for the first time… but hell, the buses were so crowded, that the closed doors only made me wanna puke, and really, the sweaty smells were only being recycled over and again…. Way to go BMTC, we applaud you.
I'm only grateful that on Monday morning everything was back to normal, and I could pay my regular 40 bucks to get to office (in luxury)!