A Journey By Bus

"Travel in the younger sort is a part of education, in the older a part of the experience." 

I avoid traveling by bus as much as I can. But sometimes there are places which can be visited only by bus or the travel by bus to them is short and inexpensive.

Last Sunday, I had to visit Amritsar. As Amritsar is more conveniently linked with the road to my town so I had to take the bus. I reached the bus stand at around 4.15 P.M. There was a great rush at the bus stand. The queue at the Amritsar booking window was unending I could get a ticket only after a long wait.

The bus was about to leave when entered if I could hardly get a seat. Within a few seconds, the bus was overcrowded. Many passengers boarded the bus even without tickets.

I felt suffocation in such a crowd. The sweaty odor from the co-passengers was just nauseating. Even I was perspiring from head to toe.

At last, the bus started. Things got a bit better as a cool breeze set in. On our way, we were witness to fights for seats, trampled toes, and tickets. But things got worse when the bus stopped at another stand. The inflow of the new passengers was more than double the outflow. And to top it all the bus was running at an ant's pace. It seemed that the driver was not in hurry at all.

Around 6.45 o'clock, Umapuri, the outline of Amritsar, was visible. Some passengers got down. There was a traffic jam because of a truck standing in the middle of the road without any driver, the bus moved a while and stopped. It was with great difficulty that we were able to reach our destination. I heaved a great sigh of relief as I disembarked from the bus.

My legs were aching after two hours of unmovable hard sitting. I got late but I thanked God that I had after all reached Amritsar. When I reached home, I collapsed on the bed before my cousin could offer me a glass of water. I slept for more than three hours to wash off my nasty experience of the bus journey.