An Adventurous Bus Journey

To my delight, I saw a DTC bus docked at the departure platform designated for Dehradun at ISBT Delhi in February 1989. And I considered myself lucky when I was able to get the ticket. The long-route buses of DTC were known for their speed, and I expected to reach Dehradun before the last local bus departed for my locality. Autorickshaw was the last option, as it was almost beyond my means.

The driver, a middle-aged Sardar ji, took the seat at the assigned time and started the engine after the conductor blew the whistle. However, the engine came to a sudden halt with a jerk as the driver strived to put the bus into motion. He tried many times to restart the engine, but in vain. Finally, he asked the passengers to get down to push the bus. A few of us got down, and it was our luck that the engine came to life with little effort.

Eventually, the bus was running, but the speed was slow. Someone opined that since the bus was passing through the city, the speed was slow, and once it crossed Delhi, it would show its true colours. The driver had a different reason for being slow. The horn of the bus was not functioning, and in the absence of its booming sound, vehicles were not giving passage to the bus. The irritation on the driver’s face was palpable.

It was a cloudy day, and rain was expected. It became a little dark when we reached a dhaba located between Muzaffarnagar and Roorkee, where the driver stopped the bus for refreshment. Most of the passengers went for refreshment, and the driver got busy repairing the horn. When we returned to the bus, the beaming face of the driver betrayed that he had repaired the horn. And to make everyone aware of his success, he blew it 3-4 times, pretending to be testing it.

We were already about an hour late when the bus left the dhaba. I tried to console myself, wishing that the driver would make up for the lost time during the remaining journey. Hardly after we had travelled 4-5 km, it started drizzling, and to the driver’s and passengers’ dismay, the wipers did not work. The raindrops thumping the windshield made the visibility very poor, and the bus moved at snail’s pace. However, after some time, the driver devised a way to overcome the problem. Instead of looking through the windshield, he would crane out his head from the driver-side window to have a better view, manoeuvring the steering with his left hand. Whenever a change in gear was required, he would pull his head back and, after changing the gear again, crane it out. This improved the speed, but it was a difficult and precarious exercise as the raindrops and chilled winds of February hit the driver’s face.

I got worried considering the risks present in the situation and prayed for a safe journey, forgetting about the last local bus. To our good fortune, the rain stopped a little later, and the driver got relief from the exercise and the passengers from their anxiety.

After that, it was a smooth journey, and we safely reached Dehradun, but more than two hours late. I paid the autorickshaw driver whatever he asked for and reached home with a sigh of relief. My salute to the driver who did not give up in adversity.