30 Mins at Volvo Bus No 335 at Bangalore

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13th March 2008: 9:30 AM - 10:00 AM

I am traveling by BMTC Volvo bus (The Red Color fancy AC bus) to commute daily to my office. I had to leave my car because the new company which is located at MG Road Bangalore and didn't parking space for most of employees. I am going to write here about an incident happened in the bus today morning.

I got into Volvo bus 335 at HAL Airport Stop at 9:30 AM. I wanted to get down at MG Road. A 6 KM Journey which usually takes 30 mins. (To be precise Shoolay circle, this is because buses don’t go through MG road due to Metro rail construction). It was an uneventful journey till the bus crossed the command hospital. As the bus was approaching the signal to turn towards Trinity circle a lady sitting 2-3 seats in front of me started shouting at conductor (ticket collector/ examiner). The lady is of mid 30's and very well dressed. I couldn't understand why she was shouting for some time. She was shouting in Hindi, which I am not very good at. I assumed that conductor didn't stopped bus at a stop where she wanted to get down.

The conductor was also caught it by surprise and asked her what was the problem in Hindi itself. She told she needs to get a change of Rs 480. She had given 500 Rs for the journey of 20 Rs. Since the conductor didn’t had change he told her to collect the change by end of journey. He also scribbled this info in the back of the ticket. This helps him later to identify that some change should be given back. This is usual practice by conductors in Bangalore. Travelers have to remember that they need to get the balance and make sure they are collecting back from conductor before end of journey. If the passengers forgot about it, then it will be difficult to trace back the bus and also getting the money back.

This reminds me of another incident where I was sent out of a BMTC bus 10 years back during initial years at Bangalore. The ticket charge for 3 Rs and I had given 100 Rs. The conductor asked me to get down next stop as he doesn’t have change. I also didn't have any change to pay him.

The conductor came to her place and asked her to show the ticket politely. Usually the BMTC conductors are rude. But I felt this guy was a decent one and was talking very politely. She got very wild and started shouting at the conductor. She tried to push the conductor and started abusing him in Hindi and English. She shouted that the conductor was planning to cheat her. She claimed that the conductor didn't give her the money in spite of asking 3 times. While she was shouting the conductor had given the back money to her. But the lady got wilder and hit the conductor on the cheek. Another passenger who was standing next to the conductor came to help the conductor. All other passengers were also shocked by her action.

The conductor after recovering from shock went back to his place and told her in Kannada to behave properly. She being one of the immigrants to Bangalore for a new era private job and obviously didn't know Kannada. But she was offended as the conductor talked to her in Kannada. Now she wanted to play the victim role get sympathy from fellow travelers. She started shouting that all the Bangalore people are bad because no one came to help her.

She also warned the conductor that she is capable and have contacts to fire him from the Job. She also mentioned that the conductor shouldn't think that she is some ordinary person, just because she is traveling by bus. She told that she is a big shot and her cousin is friend of Bangalore's Mayor and took her flashy Motorola mobile and pretends to dial some number. (She doesn’t even know that Bangalore is not having a Mayor currently). It is very obvious that she was bullshitting. While doing all these things she was abusing conductor with words like “Bastard” and “chootia”.

She is not an ordinary person, but a really a bad one who doesn’t know how to live in a civil society or one who is suffering from office / home stress who need medical assistance.

Any way she calmed down a little bit and but then she tried to convince her neighboring passengers that she was the victim. None of them couldn't sympathize with her as she was completely wrong and avoided her. Meanwhile bus approached the Shoolay circle stop and I have to get down there. She was also getting down there. She was abusing him till she got down of the bus and walked towards Richmond road.......

Note: I don't have racial bias against North India. Just wrote the incident as it is.

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Comments

[Bangalore Passenger]

Very nice article and thought provoking too. When using pulic transport buses in US, passengers MUST provide exact change. If they do not have the exact change, they cannot expect to get change back either. I have paid a few extra cents myself while using the bus as I didnt have exact change. I think this is a very good concept and can be followed in Bangalore too. In this case, what the hell was the lady thinking in first place giving 500 bucks for a ticket! BMTC bus is not the place for one to show off his/her wealth and position in society ;) More on the exact-change-or-no-change concept, I also think it will save a lot of timeduring ticket issueance as conductor need not worry abt providing change to passengers.

[Ann]

These anti social elements shouldn’t be allowed entry into any form of public transport. Cheers!

[hennry]

Good fornothing woman
She shouldbe sent back to where she has come. This is too much and unexcetable behaviour in Bangalore

[BangaloreBaba]

Surprising
Hi, This is very surprising but your article was more like generalizing for all the north indians,,thats lady;s behavior is indeed intolerable but then portray it that way and please improve your english.

[Tiju]

Thanks
I haven't generalized on North Indians or my Intentions was not that. The only thing I mentioned that the lady was from north and she felt insulted when conductor spoke to her in Kannada. This is not a reason to beat the conductor and shouting in the bus. I myself not from Karnataka and an immigrant to Bangalore. But always felt that Bangalore is one of cities more accommodative to Immigrants and we should misuse it.

[baba]

an incident similar to this one
An incident similar to this one happened when I was traveling to Blr from Hyd in a Ksrtc Rajahamsa bus, a lady from Delhi in her mid 40's suddenly started howling abususes at the conductor accusing of taking extra money for a seat. Usually the Rajahamsa bus has 2*2 seatings and one single seatin the beginning of the row meant for the conductor. The lady insisted the conductor to let her sit on that seat as she was not comfortable sitting with male passengers next to her. The conductor politely asked her to choose a seat between 11-12 as they are reserved as ladies. She was in a no mood of listening and started to howl abuses to the conductor. The conductor was polite and was trying to calm her down but she was in no mood of listening. At one point she removed her slippers to hit him. She accused him for taking extra money from her and hurled abuses on him and on the people of south India for the rest of the journey as other passengers ignored her. ( I am not generalizing any North Indians here) All i am trying to say is that people should learn to behave in public.

[a.c]

you have stated in a very wrong way. the narrative sounds as if all north indians are like that. you rphrase, 'new era private company migrant" shows your feelings. its true the lady misbehaved but i have seen biased south indians misbehaving with north indians too. i myself had a big prob;lem because of language. ur tourism money, the rent and fares we pay go in your governments pocket. so we are not that bad.

[Smiths]

The hatred of this writer towards outsiders is quite evident. Not much can be expected from mean people.

[Tendar Tsering]

Nice article. It happened to me also many a times, and trust me, most of these bus drivers always try to take advantage of strangers to this state. I am not an Indian nor a north Indian nor a north east Indian but just because i share my chinky eyes with these north Indians, i am always looked down by these bus conductors, and some times, by locals at restaurant or malls. I don't know why these people treat north eastern people so bad, and always look down. I feel so sorry to these north east Indian people, and really, these people are supposed to be part of India, constitutionally but in fact, socially, they are not. They are just victims of this great Barat 'India'.