September 28, 2006

Travelling By Bus in Banglaore

I travel by bus to work........... I have to catch 2 buses from Airport road to reach Banashankari. Travelling by bus does have its mini adventures as I found out........ :)

Some months back, I had to get back from Christ College, Bangalore. I took a bus that took the long route. I am always in a hurry and do not like to idle away time. That Sunday I was tired of hurrying up and since I had nothing urgent to take care of, I took a bus that travelled the longer route. What a treat I had in store :)

At Marathahally, a father and son boarded the bus. They were Bengalis and wanted to get to the market area. The son(whom I shall call A) looked around for a seat so his old father(whom i shall call as B) could sit there. A then asked the driver as to where the market area was and how long will it take for him to reach there.

The bus drivers are generally cordial and take it upon themselves to give directions. I dont know what happened that day. The driver just got furious. He said in English "Speak in Kannada, otherwise I will not answer". A calmly said "I do not know Kannada, please tell me when will I reach the Market Area?" This infuriated the driver and he stopped the bus.

I was sitting in the seat behind the driver watching this and thinking what led to this confrontation? The driver then started verbally abusing A. Meanwhile B, stood up and tried pacifying A and asked him to back off. A asked him to take his seat and tried pacifying the driver to no avail. Then A also started abusing and it became a free for all.

The driver ask them to leave the bus and they refused. There was a mini scuffle. But A refused to budge. He said " I am taking down your bus number, and I shall report this in the police station!". To this the driver replied in Kannada saying "Do what u can, i ll see what happens........... blah blah blah ............... Then A and B alighted at the next stop at a traffic junction. The driver all the while was mouthing obsceniteis. He was also cursing saying " Everyone comes to our state to earn money. There are hardly any Kannadigas in Bangalore. Wherever u look, all u see are these North Indians or Tamilians or Malayalis............ What has become of our state??? "

He looked back. Saw me and a girl sitting together. He screamed " Kannadadavala?"- meaning are u from Karnataka? I replied back in Kannada that I was (I am a Tamilian, but can speak Kannada)... what else could I do? I didnt want another brawl on a hot Sunday noon and meekly sat back.

This incident brought back memories when my dad had been posted to Delhi. Nothing new since transfers were a part of my life , dad working in the bank. We were called "Madrasis" because of our comparitively darker complexion which used to irk me .

What happened to A and B was no different.Just another form of racism and manifestation of pent up frustration .

3 comments:

Mia said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I totally agree on your thoughts, but i consider even that driver/conductor's thought how can anybody see occupying anybody's nest, he is to some extent frustated may be there were a few bitter experiences in his own family...so...may be his son being a kannadiga could not get a job because of a person from other state got it though this person was more desrving than his son, though i am too completely against this racism but frustation always looks out for occations.. and thats what happened with that driver/conductor

ANand said...

This is the exact problem which will be incurred when somebody is less educated, in the sense u see such behavior only in low profile people. That was a pure racism. But that has been in blore since a while now, any protest or incident take place, this is always an opportunity for such ppl to back fight for other intention. For ex: When DR. R died, many T were hit and were harrased for no reason. Its never ending story, one has to be vigilant and careful get your smart ass out of it.