A BUS JOURNEY WITH A DIFFERENCE
I am sure we have all travelled in buses but this was a bus journey with a difference. A group of office colleagues, numbering about 15, between 25 and 30 years of age, set out on an outing from Kolkata to Haldia, which was then just beginning to emerge as an industrial hub on the map of West Bengal. The nearest railhead to Haldia then was Mecheda 58 kms from Howrah. And so the first lap of the journey was by an EMU local from Howrah. It was necessary to emphasize this rail connection lest the purists among us raise questions as to why details of a bus journey are being posted at IRI. But...
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that apart, there is nothing much to write home about an 80 mns ride on the HWH- Mecheda Local in the sweltering and humid clime of a Saturday afternoon in July.
Come Mecheda and all the members of the group made a dash to the nearby bus terminus to board a local bus to Haldia, a distance of about 65 kms and a journey time of nearly 2 hours. However there were no vacant seats and the interior of the bus resembled a General bogie of say the Coromandel Exp. The only seats available were on the top. No it was not a DD bus. When I say the top, I mean the roof of the bus. With the permission of the bus driver and conductor, the team parked itself on top of the vehicle, buffeted by an odd assortment of luggage.
As the bus started moving, there was an exhilarating feeling of thrill and adventure. By then the heat had subsided and was replaced by a cool breeze. The upper deck passengers had a gala time singing but thankfully, for their own safety, not dancing to their own tunes. There were quite a few occasions when it was necessary to stoop low and avoid being knocked over by the outgrown branches of trees on either side of the highway. And there were several stoppages too. Meanwhile, it was getting deceptively cool with a gentle whiff of rain in the air. But it was in reality the proverbial lull before the storm.
As the bus started racing on the last 25 km non-stop lap of its journey, the heavens opened up. What started off as a mild drizzle soon transformed itself to a heavy monsoon downpour and the hapless occupants of the upper deck felt themselves being drenched to the bones.
Finally the bus reached its destination.An understandable sigh of relief escaped from everyone’s lips as they descended from their perch atop the bus and wended their way to their abode for the night. A chastened lot, whose moods, however, could not be dampened for long, as the evening unfolded itself amidst song, dance and revelry.
PS. The year was 1975 and for your information, the youngest member and lead singer of that group was one many of you are familiar with. A guy bearing the initials PKV.