Foul mood and scratching surface

Foul mood and scratching surface

The stare of the bus driver in Kanchipuram was enough for me to shift to another mode of transport. Though i was supposed to travel 120-odd kms where i had to change to another mode which would take me to the Seven Hills, the man at the wheels wanted a full realisation of the machine he was to ply for the next three-and-a-half hours. Barred from taking passengers on roof of the bus - the government order has been revised recently - he wanted three passengers to be comfortable enough in the two seats they occupied; the bonnet and the aisle was meant for them and the luggage if by chance had taken the aisle space the men and women could trample on with ease. Perhaps his discomfort with my luggage and the space it would occupy made me revise my schedule and opinion on my departure from Kanchipuram.

What plays on the mind of tailors in another temple town was no different. Having paced up and down the streets of the temple town and the undeniable physical movements leading to a situation where pants had to be stitched come what may, none of the tailors were willing to do the stitching part. THe morning hours were meant for taking big orders and when long nights had set in the alteration could be tried when most of the staff and the master were back to the boozing schedule. Though the dilemma i was battling with was finally resolved with a street settled tailor willing to do it for a meagre amount, the xerox beginning at 30 paise and revising upwards and browsing beginning at Rs 5 for 10 minutes brought the necessity to have change at all times. Browsing is a big necessity here as every street and lane has quite a handful of them. What they browse and for what end is not known but what has been discovered is that post browsing session a majority of them disappear to undisclosed locations only to step out after a while.

As one comes across a huge line outside the SBI ATM in Kanchipuram there are four other ATMs in one row. As Rajni's flick has opened in a theatre adjacent to these ATMs the flick's refusal to disappear after having run for over three weeks shows the agenda behind the positioning of these ATMs. They not only want a large chunk to try the every movie the theatre runs but also go for saloon-cum-net sessions which are all in the vicinity. For one with long temple schedule these ATMs too come handy. If handsome returns was what the bus driver was looking for which made me abandon the bus in Kanchipuram, the new one i took had no surprise element for the first one hour. Though packed to capacity i had managed to secure a seat and space for my luggage.

Given the capacity it was carrying i knew time had come for the unexpected. A tipsy man hooked to a cell took the bus. He was blasting someone left right and centre. He blasted the conductor for not offering him the seat knowing pretty well that liquor was the only liquid he had taken in the past 24 hours. The driver offered him to sit on the bonnet. Once seated the mayhem began. The ladies took offence to the wild movement of his body and the standing passengers rebuked him for not bringing stability to his sitting posture. In between the reprimand from the driver too failed to control his wild movements. For the driver when it became an insurmountable challenge to drive, he literally dived into the bonnet from a vantage spot and landed untamed blows on him and threw him out. Post departure of the tipsy man, the bus began to move only to be witnessed to the handy movements of a guy sitting in the bus.

The guy sitting next to me was doing all he could to the territory that privately belonged to him. No soon he finished the snacks, his fingers went into undies and do some scratching movements only to discover later that he had more food to take with the same fingers. The undue haste shown in getting the hands inside the undies time and again perhaps reflected the bath he hadn't taken for days and the food he took every time his hands were relieved from undeclared assault on his private territory showed his side of the multitasking he was born with. Perhaps his digging in his nose was the last of the forgotten multitasking acts which he completed swiftly following the final nod from the conductor. What was the nod for i could not make out. But later standing at the bus stand, he was told on the cell that he had more than half territory to cover. Perhaps a fair quantum of multitasking operations he was supposed to undertake in his onward journey with the cell filling the vacant spot.
As hazards of modern day travelling brings you face to face with those who scratch the territory that privately belongs to them, it also showcases the ulterior motives of those who can't stand the sight of a luggage that eats into their prospects of getting more on board as the revised govt order on banning travelling on roofs has made them (driver, conductor and their sponsors) skip meals and liquor for free at political rallies that come on the way.