MTC Adventures

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, travelling in an MTC city bus is a constant source of entertainment and amusement. And the clincher is, you never know when you'll be the one providing it. I've been at the forefront of so many such amusing incidents that if I were to compile a book, it would rival the size of the Engineering Physics textbook (by M. Arumugam). One such incident never fails to elicit a chuckle even after 7 long years.

It was during my first year in college. I was travelling in a city bus with Pradeep while going to 'Odyssey' at Adyar. After boarding the bus at Anna university we were told by the conductor that since the bus was an 'express service' (trust me, the name 'express service' is really a misnomer) it did not have a scheduled stop at the place we wanted to get down. We really had no choice but to purchase tickets for the next stop after Odyssey.

As it happened, due to the heavy traffic the bus started to slow down while it was approaching Odyssey, enabling Pradeep to get down nimbly from the moving bus. Now I was stuck in a quandry. Not having travelled much in city buses before, I wasn't exactly schooled in the art of getting down from a moving bus. I was apprehensive at first but then I decided there's always a first time. Also, not wanting to look like a novice in front of Pradeep, I decided to bite the bullet and take the plunge.

Since I had seen others getting down from a moving bus with inexplicable ease, I was aware of the cardinal rule while disembarking from a moving vehicle: Always get down facing the direction of the vehicle's movement and don't try to arrest your movement as soon as you hit the road. Rather, you should jog for a short while and gradually slow down after hitting the road to allow the momentum to fizzle out. So there it was, all simple and easily worked out. It was just a matter of putting theory to practice.

Getting down to the lowermost rung in the footboard and taking care to face the direction of travel I tensed myself to hit the road. At this moment I was reminded of a hilarious incident. My dear friend Laks was in a similar situation a year back while trying to get down from a moving city bus in Madurai. Unfortunately he was not aware of the cardinal rule then. He tried to get down while facing exactly the opposite direction of motion. And needless to say the result was unfortunate. He fell flat on his butt, right in the middle of a busy thoroughfare (har har). But he's alright now. Except for a dented ego when reminded of the incident.

Laughing to myself while thinking about Laks' bumbling capers, I finally hit the road. And almost immediately I started to jog forward. Then I realised something was wrong. I was jogging far too quickly. And I couldn't slow down. I realised I had misjudged the inertia that was carrying me forward. And it looked like I was headed straight for the bus stop where a handful of passengers were waiting. Oh Oh! watch out everybody, wild bull on the rampage. When I looked towards my right I found to my horror that I had overtaken the very bus from which I had disembarked. And all the passengers on the bus were watching the disaster unfold in front of their eyes with some kind of morbid fascination.

The people at the bus stop on seeing me charge towards them like a mounted knight ready to joust his opponent, began to scatter away in frenzy. But one unlucky soul did not have the time. He was busy fiddling with his chappal which he was holding in his left hand. When I reached him with enough momentum to put a particle accelerator to shame, I was desperately looking to grab hold of something to halt my relentless charge. And the only thing that was in sight was the man's chappal. But alas the chappal and the owner were no match for the unbridled force propelling me forward. My hands just snatched the piece of footwear away from the poor soul and it hardly made a difference to the propellant force. It was like trying to halt a doubledecker bus by putting your foot out.

Finally the inertia began to wear away and I began to slow down. By this time I had run across nearly 5 city blocks. And the comedy came to an end when I fell into some bushes by the roadside (and my luck, they happened to be thorny bushes). I was helped to my feet by Pradeep who couldn't contain his laughter for many days to come. I got up and dusted by bruised body (and ego) and walked away with whatever shred of dignity that remained. But not before returning the snatched chappal to the owner who gave me a not too kind stare. Thank goodness he didn't yell thief and summon the local gendarmes. That would have resulted in total ignominy.

But I must say I had a far better deal when compared to another unfortunate soul who had a similar experience in the railway junction at Madurai. No, it was not Laks who was the individual in question here but somebody else (though I wish it had been Laks). The man had come to see off some relatives who were travelling by the Pandian express. While he was inside the train bidding adieu to them he didnt notice the train was already in motion. Someone from the platform yelled at him to get his ass down as the train was gently picking up speed. Rushing to the door the man tried to make a smooth exit (or what he thought would be one), but again he too underestimated the power of inertia.

When he hit the platform (fortunately he was still on his feet) the momentum propelled him along the major part of the platform's length and kept propelling him even further. Finally, he ran straight into the railway police station at the far end of the platform and fell onto a constable standing inside. He must have had some explaining to do to the cops. I was atleast spared that thankless task.