The Delhi Transport authority had announced the issue of a holiday ticket. In one rupee we could travel as we liked. One Sunday I decided to avail myself of this facility.
I thought of going first to Connaught Place. So I went to Kashmere Gate bus stop. I wanted to catch the bus going on route No. 21. So I took my position in a long queue. Several buses passed by fully packed. We looked towards it but it always disappointed us.
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Now we saw coming another bus playing on route No. 9. The queue was broken and all rushed forward towards the stand for No. 9. Although there was enough room inside the bus, but the row that followed made me lose heart and give up the idea of going by bus.
At long last I got into the bus. I had waited for three quarters of an hour and now when I got in, I could not find a seat. The bus moved on and at Red Fort where some passengers got down I could manage to get a seat.
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As I was going to sit, my eyes fell on an old man who had just come in. I immediately got up and offered my seat to him but before he could near it, a fashionable lady stepped in and occupied it.
Although it was very awkward but I was helpless. The standing space was packed like sardines and the poor old man was feeling the jerks and jolts every now and then.
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The bus moved past Daryaganj without stopping. There was, however, a passenger for Delhi Gate. So the bus stopped at the stand where was a huge crowd. While the man was moving forward, the rear entrance of the bus was virtually stormed.
There was utter confusion. The conductor was insisting that he would only take in one passenger while there was one young man who was insisting that he was first in the queue and, therefore, he would certainly travel by that bus.
Hot words were being exchanged and the conductor and the young man were almost on the verge of striking each other, when the driver on his own initiative turned the bus back. It was now heading towards Faizbazar police station.
By now I had got fed up of the jostling and leg breaking ordeal. All my plans were gone with the wind; it had already become quite late in the afternoon.
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So I decided to thank the wonderful Delhi Transport Service and getting down at the Faizbazar police station, walked away to Daryaganj. I went straight to my friend’s house.
That was the end of a half-finished bus journey. One requires a lot of patience and stamina to be able to put up with the ordeals of a bus journey in Delhi.