The Rangeela Bus

The modes of transport in Bangalore still fancy me. The best one I would vote as of now, is the Rangeela bus. These buses as you should know are privately operated and ply from the city to the nearby rural areas. We affectionately christened them as 'Rangeela', owing to their colourful and mosaic/marble appearance.

My first stint with of one their kind was shortly after my return from Vides and initial travel to a new office. I had missed my company cab, and had to reach there by all or any means. The final destination seemed unreachable with the 'ric's asking you the sky, for a short distance fare. The very efficient public buses were not to be seen.

Then somewhere near the corner of the main road, I could see a couple of colourful looking buses, parked back to back. The drivers where roaring the engines of the stationary vehicles, giving you an indication that they would start off anytime. They looked, as if they were set to drag. The green and yellow bus bodies, added to the effect, momentarily giving you flashes of "The Fast and the Furious".

Nonchalantly I walked towards one of them. I was not able to hear a thing, owing to a cacophony created by the constant chanting of the destination(s) and the engine roar.
I was able to figure out that all of them were heading in the same direction and via my office. Left with no other option, I decided to hop onto one of them.

Trouble was to decide on, which one to choose. Considering the time factor, I chose the first bus in the row, brushing away wooing bus agents, with promises of DVD, luxury seats et al. This was, hoping that it would the first one to leave. Yeah I tried to put my Engineering brain into work :)
Murphy proving that he is the best, made me wait until nearly all the other buses left. I had got me Math wrong. Of course, it didn't take me long on realising how I was outsmarted.

Firstly, as pointed out earlier, the first buses in the row, give you an impression that they would be the first to leave.
Secondly they play one of your favourite movies on DVD, and make you forget about the time.
Lastly and probably the best tactic- The whole of the rear-side glass is painted, so you wont be able to make out whether the buses behind you leave or not!

So as it happened, I reached office much late than planned, thanks to the debacle experienced by me.

I vowed that I would never set my foot on another private bus again. That vow or promise that I made to myself diminished with time, thanks to more of cab misses. With time I got used to these Rangeela buses and actually started to have a liking for them. "Come on, no one offers you free movies within city limits!" :)

With experience, as you can say, I was able to figure out the buses which left first. Simple as it would seem, the first ones to leave were the ones which were most crowded! I was also able to figure out the signals given the agents (yes, there are more than one for each bus) to the bus driver.To any new passenger, they all seemed similar and made no sense. But, on close observation I was able to figure out the final signal for take off. It would be a shrill whistle, with constant banging of the bus frame. (hey hey ah ah!)

I now even have an acquaintance with some of them, who just issue a ticket (a dull piece of recycled paper) on seeing me, and blow the whistle, when my no one gets down stop comes.

The five minute journey to office on these buses, on days when I don't make it to the cab, is arguably the most enjoyable part of the day. I would owe it to the full entertainment on a DVD movie, and to more specifically the variety of people I see. Let me not go into detail, on the latter part. You need to see it for yourself. Believe me, its worth the effort.

The picture of a typical bus shown above, was I picked up from here.