the buses seem unusually crowded these days... more than once, i've had to stand all the way home... or office.... some days ago, that was the case again... since i wouldn't bet a nickel on my strength, i decided to sit down somewhere... anywhere...
the engine's quite a spot to sit, if you're desperate... i walked to the driver, and found some guy already requesting permission
"Can i sit there?", he pleaded, pointing to the engine...
"NO!, you can sit on those bars", the driver replied in compromise...
i went next...
"Can i sit there?" i piped...
"No!", he replied, appalled at the intelligence of the IT community...(for asking the same question...)
"why not??", i was trying to save face here...
"you'll dent the engine cover..." he said, pointing at the hard alloy that looked strong enough to stand a nuclear explosion...
"seriously???", i said, pointing to myself... "i weigh all of 40 kilos..."
"okay, okay", he gave in...
sometimes, it's not that war-like... the drivers are more 'accomodating'...
there was the recent friendly Mani (as in mani, mani, mani, mani, manigondu daara... as he himself explained..)
he was full of advice and questions...
"you should leave your tensions at work madam... go home and do full maja..."
"you should hire a maid and cook madam"
"how much is your pay madam?"
and sometimes exchange information...
like what i'd had for breakfast...
"one vada", i lied... (i'd had no breakfast...and didn't want him telling me about the +ve effects of a heavy breakfast)
"oh, i had 4 idlies and one vada" he let me know... (that constitutes my nutrition for an entire day!)
and there was advice to get married... to hire a cook and a maid... to go to big restaurants to eat... somewhere, along the way he told me i needed to get fat too...
it was one of my most memorable 40mins to infy... the traffic jams didnt bother me that much that day... and the unsolicited advice that didnt cease despite my pretending to concentrate on the confusing 'hundred years of solitude', wasn't too bad either... i might even resort to implementing one or two...
what amazed me was the brazen behavior of the driver.. he'd obviously never been to seminars imparting ASHI(Anti Sexual Harassment Initiative) knowledge... and certainly not been to one of those 'sensitivity' seminars eithers... all those questions about pay, health, food, marriage... doesnt he know they're taboo...!
surprisingly though, i wasn't offended... and in the days that followed, as i sat near someone with the latest ipod plugged into his/her ears, or read a book/newspaper, or just quietly dozed with eyes close and mouth open, i missed the Mani's chatter ....
the engine's quite a spot to sit, if you're desperate... i walked to the driver, and found some guy already requesting permission
"Can i sit there?", he pleaded, pointing to the engine...
"NO!, you can sit on those bars", the driver replied in compromise...
i went next...
"Can i sit there?" i piped...
"No!", he replied, appalled at the intelligence of the IT community...(for asking the same question...)
"why not??", i was trying to save face here...
"you'll dent the engine cover..." he said, pointing at the hard alloy that looked strong enough to stand a nuclear explosion...
"seriously???", i said, pointing to myself... "i weigh all of 40 kilos..."
"okay, okay", he gave in...
sometimes, it's not that war-like... the drivers are more 'accomodating'...
there was the recent friendly Mani (as in mani, mani, mani, mani, manigondu daara... as he himself explained..)
he was full of advice and questions...
"you should leave your tensions at work madam... go home and do full maja..."
"you should hire a maid and cook madam"
"how much is your pay madam?"
and sometimes exchange information...
like what i'd had for breakfast...
"one vada", i lied... (i'd had no breakfast...and didn't want him telling me about the +ve effects of a heavy breakfast)
"oh, i had 4 idlies and one vada" he let me know... (that constitutes my nutrition for an entire day!)
and there was advice to get married... to hire a cook and a maid... to go to big restaurants to eat... somewhere, along the way he told me i needed to get fat too...
it was one of my most memorable 40mins to infy... the traffic jams didnt bother me that much that day... and the unsolicited advice that didnt cease despite my pretending to concentrate on the confusing 'hundred years of solitude', wasn't too bad either... i might even resort to implementing one or two...
what amazed me was the brazen behavior of the driver.. he'd obviously never been to seminars imparting ASHI(Anti Sexual Harassment Initiative) knowledge... and certainly not been to one of those 'sensitivity' seminars eithers... all those questions about pay, health, food, marriage... doesnt he know they're taboo...!
surprisingly though, i wasn't offended... and in the days that followed, as i sat near someone with the latest ipod plugged into his/her ears, or read a book/newspaper, or just quietly dozed with eyes close and mouth open, i missed the Mani's chatter ....
