An evening in the PMT…

It was a fine Thursday… [ Last to last week I guess… (Had written this 1 that time only but couldn’t crunch time to actually post it...) ]
Like any other day….
The only deviation from the 'Standard Format' of my Office life was I had absolutely no work…
Usually, I have lil work :P

Here, at John Deere we need to complete 8.5 hours a day or els the Automated Leave System deducts half day Privilege Leave from my account very ruthlessly :(
But, my bus starts from here at 6.45 while I complete 8.5 hours at 5.30 PM only.
So I decided to take-off on my own rather than finding innovative ways to kill time, like… (there r so many ways I've devised, will dedicate a mail to that some other time :P)
I was in a different sorta mood…

Ideally, I would have taken an auto or something (it costs 150 bucks but even then)…
But, not that day… I thought lets experiment…
So I walked out of Magarpatta City (that’s where my office is located..)
Took a Shared Auto till the main signal where you get all the buses n all…
The auto, which has a capacity of "3" was carrying 7 ppl.. The driver was keen on getting in more but to my luck didn't find more commuters….
The Indian vehicles are completely ROBUST must say… Who said India is way behind in the Automation Industry, its actually progressing in a different direction :P
I could barely breath, partly because there was no space and partly cos of the strange odor in there…
When I got down on my feet I thought an eternity has ended, little did I know there were many more eternities to come :P

I took some 7odd minutes to cross the signal and get on the other end, where I could board the bus….
Like I said, I was in a strange mood….
I spoke wid the kids waiting at the stop…
Asked them bout the gov. schools n all… How they travel, their families n stuff…
Couldn't stop thanking god enough for the blessed childhood I had….
I missed 2 buses as it was overcrowded…
So, a good guy walked upto me finding me totally lost and advised to take a bus to Swargate (the bus junction) and then change from there to my final location, KOTHRUD…
The next bus was Swargate and I was determined to get into this one….
And I DID :D

Inside the bus, it was worse than the Auto I had boarded an eternity ago :P
I could get a place on the reserved "Mahilansathi" (Only for ladies) .. Phew…
There was this completely haggard looking lady, probably she was a worker or something somewhere….
I still cant forget her hands…
One can get such hands only if one break rocks for one whole lifetime….
I felt terrible for her, for ppl like her, for India and for me too… Wish I could help…
She was so disconnected and distorted that she plainly ignored my efforts to strike up a conversation with her… :((
She got down mid-way and a college going girl (guess in some govt. college for Arts or something) replaced her…
I started off with another effort to strike up a conversation…
This time I was kind of successful, not completely though…
I asked her bout the college and teachers…
She was in 12th (10+2) class… Though she looked very old for a 12th class girl…
Suman (that’s her name) washes clothes and cleans at a household to support her studies and her family…
She was very content with whatever she had and didn't seem to care for any big career or something…
How I envied her for that… Satisfaction is something I cant even dream of :P
Finally, got down at Swargate, and to my surprise in 1 piece… :D
I bade Suman a good bye….
She said I was a real nice girl and I couldn’t stop grinning…

But that was short lived, my next task was to find a bus to Kothrud..
I could take an auto (would have costed 45 bucks max) but I was loving the PMT experience…
Found a Bus for my place and boarded it…
I was hoping to meet another interesting person but..
Well, all my journey couldn't be full of interesting ppl…
There was this lady working in some bank (forgot the name) sitting next to me…
She knew the entire PMT time table by heart, no kidding…
She had her whole house hold in a mini bag…
A lil eating packet, water, money, accounts, book, some vegetables to sort out n what not….
The bus took the longest route possible to kothrud from swargate… I almost dozed off due to the vibrations...

Finally, reached home in that semi hazy state... Feelin happy n peevish at the same time... A cherished evening and journey...

All in all...
If you want to roam around whole of Pune, meet some very interesting characters, get a free sauna massage [:P] and still reach the destination in single piece….
TRY PMT…
The best way of TRANSPORT :P
Peace...