Nameless and faceless children of Mumbai!!!!!!!

For the last 4 years, almost everyday, I take a bus to reach my college. Since I am fairly punctual, I always end up catching the same bus. This means that the conductor of the bus and some of the random people of the bus are familiar with me.

En-route to college, is a municipal school. I am guessing that their timings match with my college timings. Hence after certain stops the bus gets jam packed with school kids. And then the real fun starts. Every new sunshine would bring a new trick, gossip, facts, cricket scores and much more information from them to my ears.

One of the most noticeable things about this bus is the decibel level of these kids. It’s unbelievable!!! I would really like to see any self-acclaimed kumbhakaran trying to catch some sleep……………hehehehehheeh…it’s impossible!!!! And the screaming and shouting is often very interesting [only if you can understand their different accents].

The decibel thing goes like this. One kid, standing right behind the driver, would happily have a conversation with his friends standing at the rear end. A huge group of girls would be scheming to do something that they were obviously not meant to do and then they would realize that this very nosy guy, who was busy eavesdropping on them, overheard their entire plan. So then the fight would start, these girls versus the lone guy!!!! And its really not necessary to say that the guy usually got a healthy thrashing and none his friends would even attempt to help him out!!!!! And the conductor would be no less a tormentor. Everyday….mark my words…everyday he made the guys open their bags and show him their concession passes. Only then would the moron give them the tickets. I call him moron not because he asked for the passes…but because of him…I had to may times take in enough pushing and shoving of schoolbags and umbrellas, especially its sharp edges, on my shoulder and sometimes even on my face!!!!!

And the sizes of the kids………why I can swear by the fact that some of the kids are no even more than 3 feet tall but the bags that they carried were even heavier than the rest of the kids. Some of them are simply soooooo small that in a seat were 2 adults can sit…. but not very comfortably, I had the pleasure of witnessing 5 kids sitting comfortably on the seat…. and inviting the 6th one to join them. So now how small they are would be glaringly evident.

You see one way it’s actually great pleasure to see these kids make a huge effort to at least attend school. What quality of education do they receive is a very different story. But early in the morning when we all complain of not sleeping the whole night because the dogs were howling through out the night of maybe coz the AC was not working and many more reasons……………….never ever did I hear these kids complain about not getting enough sleep or dogs, cats, mosquitoes spoiling their sleep. Not even once. All that I heard was excited chatter, screams and fights.

In a way, I am actually very proud of them. I say this not because I ever taught them anything or had anything to do with them. I have seen them grow up…and yes they did grow very fast………they seem to have matured too. Some kids decided to bring with them their younger siblings, some faces I never saw again, some faces I could make out that given an opportunity would do splendid in the future, some faces told me that they were expert loafers, some simply wanted to get away for everyday life and going to school would give them that freedom, the list of reasons is endless……….but of course this is the list of reasons that I have thought of. It may not even come any way never to the real reasons. But nonetheless, these reasons are good enough for me!!!! It has actually become my hobby to associate a past with every new face that I can see and also their reason for being in that very space as me at that time.

I write this post because I feel their presence should be acknowledged in my life. These kids have provided me with entertainment and a lot of fodder to think about. Moreover, I fear that, with my graduating from the college, I might never get to see these kids progress beyond what I have seen them. The thought of not seeing new faces in the bus makes me feel bit nostalgic about my own graduation. The frequency of my traveling in that particular bus has diminished in this year, next year it will cease to exist.

So hear I take the opportunity to write about the kids, and if in some case I chose to forget them, this post would refresh me memory.

Farewell kidos………………
And never ever keep the volume down!!!!!!!!!