The roller-coaster ride

Travel and work, two idiots I happened to befriend of late, never seem to leave me alone these days. They are such good friends, that I cant help spending time with them. No matter what situation I am in, they are always there for me. I am lousy, they are there. I am hungry, they are there. I am tired, they are there. I am sleepy, they are there. I am…. they are still there. I must confess I am very lucky to find such loyal friends and am very thankful to them for having happened to meet me. Otherwise God knows how wonderful a part of life I was going to be missing. Ok, that little piece you just happened to read is what I am giving as an excuse  for the near disappearance from the word of blogging.

Getting back, the little subject here in consideration is a ride back home. So for those of you who are bored or already feeling the need to show me a beautiful wide angle shot of your mouth or already fallen off asleep, the whole drama here is boarding a bus, and on reaching the destination, getting down. Yeah, you were right. Your wide angle display is justified. I have this liking for writing and well, you are witnessing the result.

Range: 350-650/head.
Duration: 3-5hrs.
Purpose: To scare the daylights out of you. (erm its always a night ride so there is no daylight anyways!)
Procedure: To provide a seat in the upper berth and let things work its way.

Disclaimer: The farther at the end of the bus your seat lies, the more fun you derive!

An overnight journey aboard a bus, the best way to travel would probably be on a sleeper coach. Atleast I am one of those who prefers sleeper coaches to those sitting ones. Nothing but sleeper works for me. Not even those near sleepers with a     prefix semi going ahead of them. Such a relaxed way to reach your destination and what’s more you could even get down to work in the morning.

No! Not if you take an upper berth and as a bonus, you being in the last seat. Hell! No! The drivers on the Bangalore-Udupi/Manipal/Kundapur bus, err. any of them for that matter, they are all the same; they have this strange disease where in they seem to forget the being of a 3/4th bus behind them and whats more find it to be a nascar and really take it for a ride! An urgent requirement of arrival back home coupled with a busy season, and your love for sleeper, ends you up with a lovely nest perched right at the back, where if you are kind enough to stretch a little you could be hugging the back of the bus.

You board the bus, settle down. You are still in Bangalore, everything feels good. You feel the driving is good, making a note to yourself to tell others about this particular one, how it is different form others and hey, I wonder why people run away from last seats. Its really not all that bad. The journey slowly begins, as your thoughts drift by and you are soon asleep. Bang! From blacks to blues, the next thing you know you are on a roller coaster ride, an expensive one in that. Did you just say the driver is good? Screw you! You were wrong. The ride continues with no interval. And you desperately needed one. You estimate the time of stoppage. Another bang! ‘Watch out dude!’, you shout, knowing fully well that for one thing, you wont be audible and secondly, he is on his way to finish line and nothing can stop him in his endeavor! You are tired, and every now and then you cant help falling asleep, only to be pulled out in catching yourself from falling down situation. You begin to wish there were safety belts so that you could atleast not worry about falling. Whats more your bag is have a ball of time and if you don’t bother to curtail its freedom, it will have no hesitation whatsoever in bungee jumping. Only catch being that the bungee jump is one way. Your precious laptop is in its care and it doesn’t in the least seem to have a concern about it. So you, being the more responsible of the two, takes the responsibility of taking care of the bag in addition to taking care of yourself. Every now and then it tries to take a sneak peak of what lies in the world beneath and your job is to curtail its movement. Your hands ache from clinging on, your legs ache from controlling yourself and your bag, you are jittery from lack of sleep and to add to it, being awake has made you hungry too. You try sitting so that you can find something from your bag, and no sooner you do it, you feel yourself spinning. You resist the need to eat. You resist the need to sleep. You resist the need for stillness. You resist the need for peace. You wait patiently, and yeah, as the saying goes it indeed pays off. You finally reach your destination and you are free to get down.

Conclusion: The roller-coaster ride is successfully completed.*

Remarks: You are now ready to take another ride.

*In our appreciation and as a bonus for taking part, you get a free subject to write an article upon!