A Trip To Pune.

Raining as it was, cats and dogs on the day Ravi and his bro had to leave to Pune, the poor cousin of its much known neighbor, Bombay.

Ravi with his bro had almost made it on time to the much crowded and chaotic bus station of Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India. Ravi and Raj, brothers. A typical bus station scene, loud and unclear announcements being made from the old and cob-webbed loudspeakers. The TCs resting and spitting over commuters and conductors. The worried conductor of a small town bus, shouting and advertising his bus. Drivers relaxing and probably narrating stories to others about their feats and the number of people they had managed to scare and kill (mentally) over their last drive, etc. Chaos, haphazard arrangement, unclean platforms, homeless and jobless youths taking naps over the dirty and rain-drenched benches of the bus station. The 21st Century, the IT capital of India, home to the largest number of professional colleges, and a worthless and useless bus station.

The third partner, an MBA graduate, a BDM in a reputed software firm, but with absolutely no planning of his own life, was no where to be seen.

Ravi, wearing a black jacket, searched his pockets for cigarettes, lit one and said in dismay, "Raj, Abhi's got the tickets." As usual, Raj was frustrated and shouted at his bro, "Are you crazy to have left it with a person, who doesn't know which foot the left shoe would go into?" All in woe, the bus driver shouted to the TC that the bus had to leave.

Raj put on a sad face, requesting the ill-tempered driver and the co-driver of the 48-seater Volvo bus, who just snarled and said they had to leave as they were already late, and lo, the bus left.

A few moments later, Abhi arrived, drenched, bleeding from his left foot, shoes in his hands, a wet laptop bag, and a completely sorry and apologizing look on his face, only to be dragged to another auto (the 3-wheeler chauffer driven of India). After a long drive of about 20 miles, the auto broke down. Abhi called up the next stop of the KSRTC bus stand and requested them to hold the bus for a couple of minutes more. The phone dropped with a thud on the other end. The face lit up, Abhi said, "I think we can get the bus, the guy probably ran to inform the driver." Least intersted, Raj turned away, looking into the gloomy sky, pouring and spitting on mankind. A true scene of horror from the sky, it looked like doomsday and that the rain would swallow everybody. The sun was hiding from the fury of the rain, nowhere to be seen. The trio got into another auto, who took advantage of the time and demanded double, only to be accepted by the three fools.

Finally, after a drive of 7 miles, the trio managed to board the bus, being laughed at by the whole lot of passengers and repeatedly being scolded and scowled at by the drivers.

After so much of an adventure, the trip, was it really worth all this??????????????

A question I have never been able to answer.

Life's like that. We are putting ourselves into so much of tension, turmoil, standing up to unnecessary competition, and troubles (troubling not only others but ourselves too), etc., is all this really worth the effort. What are we fighting for, where are we going, where is this going to take us to, I don't think we have the answer. I would love to listen to it if you can give me one................

Everyday, we get up only to face the beginning of the end.