Highway to Heaven

Or was it the Expressway to Pune? 😀

I distinctly remember that day, sometime in the fourth year of college. I think it was my first bus journey alone in India (I had traveled by bus alone in UK before, and by train in India, more number of times than I can count on my fingers). It was definitely the first bus journey alone in India which was being done in a covert manner-it’s up to you to guess the reason 😉

The reason it deserves a post is – bus journeys in India can never be ordinary. Its just not possible. And you don’t even need to be going to a small faraway village in a run-down bus. It can be a (supposedly) comfortable air-conditioned bus, but they will make sure you are on the edge of your seat (both literally and figuratively) when you are dealing with the bus operators.

Reasons (hey, I tried my best to avoid making a bulleted list!):

# 1 : Every bus ride you take, there’s a 50% chance that you are being taken for a ride.

# 2 : The bus never starts on time. If it does, assume something’s fishy going on (refer to #1).

# 3 : At times, you’ll be taken away from where you bought a ticket to some random different place in a minibus – I have no clue why – but it always seems shady – and always ends up in further delay of the departure.

But every cloud has a silver lining!

My journey to Pune had a quiet a few BIG incentives (oh no, another list!):
(in descending order of their ‘incentivising’ power)

# 1 : What’s there at the end of it: I had a very strong motivation to reach Pune and meet someone. 🙂 The bus is one of the fastest and most economical ways to go from Bombay to Pune.

# 2 : Food: The 3-4 hour bus journey always has a food-break somewhere in the middle. Ah, those tasty aloo-bondas and pav-bhajis. A good enough reason to skip breakfast before boarding the bus.

# 3 : Scenery: The road to Pune goes through lush green hills, and has a very scenic route. If you happen to be going in the rainy season, you might chance upon a cute little waterfall too.

# 4 : The in-bus movie: (this one I am afraid, is highly subjective and dependent on people’s choice and inclination) You don’t get to choose the movie – the bus driver/conductor does. And you’ve got to watch it. It’s up to you to enjoy it. 🙂

Have you travelled Bombay to Pune (or the other way round) on bus? How was your experience?