Bus: a gaming experience

Bus travels are crazy with people pushing and pulling for a spot within the bus just to stand steadily without being carried away by the crowd. In an extreme case, we can even see 'musical chairs' being played on the bus. When I was in school we had small games like musical chairs where if there were even-numbered players, odd-numbered chairs were kept in circles and vice versa. Music is played and when the music stops we have to find a chair and sit if not sat then the player is out. The chairs decrease as the game progresses. I used to wonder where that would even be used and now I understand why we practised that game.

Playing musical chairs on the bus is just ordinary and we do not even have a second thought as it is mostly part of our daily life. And the second crazy incident would be trying to get on a full bus because you are late. I always wait for a less crowded bus as it's rare to see an empty bus towards my route, especially in the morning. Even at 7am the bus would be overflowing and I almost believe that people do not travel by metro as all are on the bus and that's a myth as metros are also overflowing just like buses.

Another fun fact is walking is not necessary sometimes while boarding a bus. Our legs might even tell us "I will just go to sleep till you are off the bus" as walking is not necessary as we are flowing like a river. I remember once when I was waiting for a bus for almost an hour and unusually there were no busses available and finally when the bus came a group of people came rushing and I was stuck in the middle in the blink of an eye without a place to move. All I remember was being pushed to all the sides with me being pushed in one direction and my bag in the other direction. People were stuck outside the door as no one could enter and somehow I got pushed onto an empty bus, it took some time for the people to realise that "this method does not work we need to use a different strategy".

One thing seen would be horny men on the bus trying to touch a woman, even on mornings they are on fire and we see some women even screaming at them and throwing them out of the bus. This happens mostly in crowded buses, in the guise of a crowd men try to find pleasure. It's very disturbing with the fact that it's still prevailing in buses where women still find themselves unsafe while going out. Most of us use the metro because of this feeling of unsafe that runs in our mind. Another common thing in crowded buses would be stealing, they are so skilled that it would be impossible to identify them among the crowd as everyone is pushing and pulling, whom do we blame.

Every bus traveller might have experienced it, it may be successful or unsuccessful. Since Delhi buses are free for women we find a lot of female population and in the morning it would mostly be school children all lined up standing close to each other. It reminds me of the ants who have similar characteristics when walking on a single line till their final destination. For me, when I travel on the bus it saves time, it is best not to use the bus during rush hours as it is always too crowded, so it is best to use the metro as it provides a safe feeling while standing among the women.