A journey to remember....!!! (Part 2)

"10:45 pm and no sign of any Ultra deluxe bus for Hubli, It was certainly a bad idea. Why I had to be such an idiot?". These were the word running my mind. It was almost half an hour since Vikash left.

"Hubli... Hubli....!", a feeble voice between the sound of roaring bus engines diverted my thoughts. I almost ran towards the voice praying, "An Ultra deluxe....!! An Ultra deluxe...!!". But I think, that was not my day.

I had definitely traveled in the express buses many times during my college days, which we used to call "LAL DABBA" (Red Box). But I had never found a LAL DABBA so beautiful. If I were a poet, I would have definitely written poems describing the beauty of the red beast. A red colored, rectangular, half filled express bus. Interior shining with two rows of equidistant mini-sized tube lights, two headlights resembled clam eyes of a fierce roaring beast which was waiting to run away from the heard once it had filled its stomach with its favorite food, us. A white board lighted with a slim tube light at a left corner of the square transparent big window with some manuscripts in Kannada, felt like a scar on the face of the beast. I think, it was my nervousness which was appreciating the bus in such a manner. Whatever it was, only thing I knew was that this bus was my life saver for the moment.

A slim middle aged man in Kakhee colored dress, was standing beside the bus. It didn't took me a moment to conclude that he was the conductor of the bus. After inquiring the bus conductor, I entered the bus. I could see the third row from beginning being empty. I rushed towards it. To re-confirm, I asked the person sitting on the fourth row,"This bus will go to Hubli?". To my surprise, he started blabbering something in Kannada. It is 9th year for me in Karnataka, but I am still an illiterate when it comes to Kannada. His facial expression and my little experience in understanding Kannada could easily make me feel that he was scolding me about something. I just smiled, showed him my middle finger (ummm.....in my thoughts) and sat on the seat in front of him. Soon, the bus conductor came in to give tickets, he re-confirmed that I was in right LAL DABBA destined to Hubli. With in next ten minutes, I was all set to start my journey to Pune on the LAL DABBA.

11 pm, KBS Bangalore: The bus started moving from the KBS. Either a number of voices mixed together, along with the roar of the bus engine or the tiredness of the whole day made my eyes heavy and slowly, I was feeling sleepy. I thought before the bus would start giving free roller coaster rides on the road, it was best for me to take a short nap to prepare myself for the rest of the unplanned journey.

A journey to remember....!!! (Part 1)

"Are you sure about this?", Asked Vikash at Kempegowda Interstate bus terminal. "Yes", I answered with a smile on my face. He said with his devilish (trust me he loves this description for himself.... ) looks and cunning smile , "Fine then.... Don't call me in the middle of the night to pick you" and he left. I knew he was the person I could rely on blindly and he would come running to rescue me whenever I call.

June 18, 2010, My last day with my previous company . The date overlapped with marriage of a cousin of mine at Pune. I could not plan the travel before hand because I was not sure when the formalities would be over. So, I skipped buying the ticket for the last moment. Getting relieved from the formalities, I reached home by 6:30 p.m. First thing I did was, to search for the bus tickets but unfortunately ( or fortunately), I could get none. So I decided would go the Bus terminal directly and look for some private buses. Packed the bag in next few minutes, and pulled Vikash to drop me to KBS.

Thanks to the terrific traffic of Namma Bengaluru, It took us almost 2 and half hours to reach the Bus terminal. So... All the private buses had either left for Pune, or were left with not a single seat. We went around the kalasipalya area, thinking even a single bus with a single seat will do, but the trail was in vain. So I thought of taking a KSRTC bus to Pune. But as expected all the Volvo and Ultra deluxe buses were packed and I was left with a single option of taking the passenger bus to Pune. But I reluctant for this plan as it would end up to be a very hectic and tiresome journey.

Soon, the clock ticked 10:00PM and I had to choose between a nice adventure filled with uncertainties and or a dull sleep for the whole weekend at home and I, as usual was confused about it. Someone said that a man's brain works more faster when he is in front of food. And to prove this saying, Both of us went to the restaurant at KBS.

So the final decision was set over the plate of Chicken Biriyani and Kababs, I was leaving for Pune on the first bus whichever I get. I left Bangalore in a passenger bus, destined to Hubli. And all know today is that it was one of the best journeys I had ever done.