In India,
public transport is cheap as it is want to be and there is a lot of public to
use this transportation as is evident from the population of this country.
There is always a mad rush to get into these buses, especially by people who
travel to other cities to work. Added to this force are irregulars who just
want to go to the other city. The resulting crowd goes so berserk at the site
of a us that the people are pushed aside, pushed, pulled, shoved and crammed
into a vehicle 10 years past its decommissioning date.
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| Almost... there... aaahhh... Image Courtesy: theembarrassment.wordpress.com |
So we
Indians, as usual, have a jugaad for this not-getting-seat problem too. Our
ingenuity truly is visible only in such times of desperation. Here are things
people do to get a seat on public transport:
The Bag Throwers
People
going to work tend to carry bags but people here sometimes carry bags just to
throw them through the windows into empty seats. These people then take their
own time climbing into the bus since they’ve assured their seat on it. They
will then ascend as the bus starts to move, push past the other bewildered and
mumbling passengers to pick up their bag and enjoy the seat they reserved not
by being first in the queue but first to an empty window seat.
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| It looks so innocent... just lying there Image Courtesy: langyaw.com |
The Handkerchief People
Now that
you know about the ‘Baggies’, we now move on to the ‘Hankies’. These people are
too lazy to carry a bag so they use what is essentially a necessary product for
everyday life – a handkerchief – to reserve their seats. The technique is the
same as above but instead of big and marginally heavy bags; they use a piece of
cotton cloth that passes as a ticket in public transport. And, it is completely
valid as long s the conductor doesn’t interfere.
The ‘Taken’ Neighbours
No, these
are not people whom Liam Neeson has saved from foreign gangsters. These are
people who ask other to reserve their seats for them if they manage to climb up
before them. The regular travellers develop a kind of bonding that happens when
you spend a lot of time smelling each other’s armpits and borrowing newspapers
to read on the commute. This, in turn helps them save places for each other so
they can discuss which character did what horrible thing to another character
on some television show.
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| Sorry, Occupado! Image Courtesy: thestar.com |
The Regulars
As
mentioned earlier, the people who commute are the majority on these buses and
over time, they sort of start respecting each other’s places like what usually
happens in school or college. But even then, there is always some smartass
newbie who thinks he/she can sit wherever they want. These people are scorned
and the seats reclaimed even if that person get up to adjust their bag in the
overhead holding deck. And the others, they just nod their approval in sadistic
satisfaction.
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| Get off my seat... NOW! Image Courtesy: worldnomads.com |
The Legitimates
Well, these
people don’t bother with the rush and the long lines and the pushing and
shoving; they already have a ticket. For those who don’t know, people in public
transport buses can buy tickets before or after climbing into buses. The
‘Legitimates’ are the only group of people who seem to have mastered the art of
being wholly cool and buying their ticket at the counter. They stand round,
saunter in and take their place reserved with an ‘X’. If there is an unreserved
passenger sitting there, they will be reprimanded for their transgression with
the show of a ticket. Fights often erupt because of their cocky nature.
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| Yeah, that's right. Yes, I do have a ticket. Image Courtesy: wricities.org |
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