Never ever I imagine or dream of where I will stay. Yes, I do dream of visiting different cities or places but of the ones where I will settle for long or for a shorter while, I never think of it.
When anyone asks me where do I stay, I tell the city's name and if the conversation goes on for a little longer , I have this habit of being precise and telling that I live on the Highway.
It has almost been an year living on the Highway. It takes around 40 minutes to reach the city. How does one reach city? So, there are Rajasthan Roadways regular buses that start from Shahpura and go till the city. There are other Roadways buses too which come from Delhi to Jaipur, only these buses often do not stop if you want to go towards Jaipur. Then, mini buses can be an option too. And the most interesting means of transport is the "Jhonga" as they call it here. I have asked so many times to my friends to specify which one is the Jhonga but what they tell, and what I have in mind might be two different means. For me the Jhonga is the prolonged version of a Jeep. Yes, there are Jeeps too.
So many ways to reach city.
Today I needed to go to the city. I started at 7 30. Let me rephrase it. I reached outside campus at 7 30. I was not sure if I would get a bus or not. I waited on the Highway for about 5 to 10 minutes and there it was, my means of transport for today: a Mini Bus. Generally, if I were not in a hurry, I would have waited for the Roadways bus to come. Why? Because the Roadways bus doesn't stop wherever it finds passengers. It most often stops on the designated places. But I could not have been a chooser. I had no option. So I boarded the bus. As opposed to my previous experience of travelling in a Mini Bus, today I felt the speed was much improved. The last time I had sit in the Mini bus was when my sister had come to visit me. I made her and my niece travel by the mini bus whose speed was as slow as a snail. Anyhow, I was pretty much impressed with the speed today and thought it might not stop everywhere. Well, I was not completely right neither completely wrong. After a while began playing the long lost music of 80s and 90s of Bollywood , which you(only those who grew up around taht time) might have heard while growing up and later on would have locked them in a box and would have never wanted to open it by choice, or maybe they would have, who knows?
While the music was on, everybody was getting into the bus with their wares as they had to be there in the city for business. A milkman boarded the bus and along with him came seven to eight heavy milk cans. They seemed to be so heavy. I sat wondering how he must have been carrying them. There were people who helped keep the cans inside the bus. While the bus moved ahead, on another stop a young boy, a teenager it seemed jumped in the bus with a heavy bundle. The bundle was wrapped in a colourful cloth so I could not see what was inside. But the way he put it down from his head, it surely felt gravely heavy. Then joined the wagon, another lady with a different coloured bundle, but it had some plants or a sort of bush. I really got curious when she entered with her green companions, but I did not get to ask what it was. And with getting in and descending from the bus of the passengers, we arrived in the city. I imagine every morning they get up early and go about their grueling businesses.
So, this is how I reach the city. And to add a little flavour of what it is really like, here goes one of the songs...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvS7hj6FE24
PS : I never knew what was the video like until I looked for the link to post it here .:)
No comments:
Post a Comment