I never miss any opportunity to visit my most dear cousin S who lives in Hindupur, 150 kilometers away from Bangalore. This weekend was one such opportunity which I grabbed without any hesitation. She is the best cook I have ever met and the delicious food she cooks is just mouth watering. This post is not about my visit to her but it is all about my return journey to Bangalore.
As usual I was comfortably seated in the last seat of the bus in which I was about to travel for the next four hours. Unfortunately, most of the times, I end up getting the last seat. After an hour of the strenuous journey, there was a buzz inside the bus. There were two elderly men who went to each of the passenger checking if they were travelling with a legal ticket. This was for the first time I was witnessing such sight. For me having travelled frequently in trains and busses had never come across this activity.
I showed my ticket which I had kept safely in my valet to one of the checking staff. The person sitting next to the window after a couple of seats from mine was horrified and searching all over the place for his ticket. He had lost it. He looked like a decent person and I am sure he was not lying about losing his ticket.
In a couple of minutes the conductor of the bus was also summoned and those three people started shouting at him. That guy looked helpless as he was taken to task in front of so many people. One of the co-passenger was brave enough to intervene and asked the conductor to check his electronic ticket issuing device for data about the tickets sold and the number of persons travelling on bus matched or not. Ashtella detailaagi nodakke aagalla saaar (I cannot check those entire details sir) is what the conductor had to say.
I thought the devices must be good enough to check if the person had really lost the ticket after buying or had deliberately not bought a ticket. It was indeed shameful even though none of the passengers knew that person.
Next time you travel, ensure to have your tickets with you all through the journey.
