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.
ooops not good.. what did they do did he have to buy another ticket ... sad
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Bikramjit, Yeah it was indeed very sad. He was forced to pay a hefty fine of 500 Rs.
ReplyDeleteMak, with the tile "Unfortunate" I started reading with some scare in mind because anything unpleasant is sad. It is nice of one passenger to request conductor to check serial No.I had no idea that now electronic tickets are issued. Not sure of any system in India that will let him apply to recover his fine if he later found his ticket.
ReplyDeleteIf he really tried to travel free then Lesson is learnt - Don't fail to buy a ticket and keep it safe in purse until journey is over.
It was nice read. Happy New year. :)
Hey Mak..Happy New Year!!The Message is clear and its so unfortunate for that passenger to lose his ticket and also his money..My kind request to you is to write one more cheerful blog for us to have a Happy start in this New year!!Hope my wish will be granted???
ReplyDeleteUsha - thank you and also wish you a very happy year ahead. I am sorry to have scared you with the title, will ensure not to, in future :-).
ReplyDeleteEven i don't know of any such system of recovering the fine amount. But to me that guy looked innocent. I hope it wasn't deliberate.
Hey Echu, thanks da..wish you a very happy new year! Sure will do.
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ReplyDeleteMak - This is a common practice in Mangalore as the bus service is run by Private services and have been through this process since childhood. Ya always keep the tickets with you. But there are such cases when one may lose the ticket and the inspector can check the number of seat and tally the count. At least it was the process in Mangalore! :-)
ReplyDeletereal sad event, people have to be more careful with small things. I too am careless.
ReplyDeleteYou got to be careful.
DeleteIt happens but you know once I was travelling from Delhi to Chandigarh in train. There was this poor man with his wife and he was without ticket for obvious reasons and believe me TT started beating him. Thankfully, some people intervened and paid for his ticket and gave it money for food. The couple was trembling, it was such a sorry state...
ReplyDeleteYeah Saru it happens many a time. Good to hear about helping people around them.
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