STORY
hk´w
see all those strangers around you. Your mother
He was infamous for his detestation of school
advices you to go to the front and hold on to the
and college students. Many a time seeing us school
bar in order to escape from the rush. You look
kids, he used to pull the bell continuously.. signalling
around frequently to see if your mother is there
the driver not to stop. He made sure we stood all
where she stood.
through those 50 minutes it took us to reach school, as
During college days, bus journeys become
he shouted at those in school uniforms if we sat down.
more enjoyable with friends. Problem arises if you
But that day, while getting tickets for both of us,
get late and you have to get into a crowded one.
I saw a different look in his eyes. He was staring at my
You get pushed towards the back, and either you
grandmother. Then, he sat on the front seat, turned
get caressed by someone or spend that entire
backwards and asked her- “Teacher, do you
journey being conscious of the movements behind
remember me?” My grandmother was in the primary
you. Expecting an intrusive hand on you anytime.
stage of dementia. She didn’t of course recognize him.
Newlyweds sit together in men’s seats, the
He said that she had taught him. What he said
husband with a protective, loving arm around his
later still reverberates in my mind.
beloved's shoulders.
Things change over the years. Like our
lady who looked around for her husband.
“Teacher, had I studied well at that time, had I
but listened to you, I wouldn’t have ended up as a mere
conductor in a bus.”
Travelling with a child is a unique
experience. My mother still recalls bitterly how my
My grandmother, with her teacher’s wisdom
replied,
brother had started crying with hunger. No one
“What one becomes in life is destiny, it’s not in
would even get up for her, and she had to feed him
our hands. But what we make of what we have
while standing on the bus. I too had to travel once
become is in our hands.”
I didn’t know whether to sympathize or to be
with my daughter. One lady volunteered to hold
her. My girl sat there on that lady’s lap, holding on
sadistic at the smile he tried to bring to his face in vain.
to my hand with an insecure expression. Quite
What she said was so true. We are all
suddenly, the lady realized that she had to get
frustrated about what we cannot be in our lives and we
down at that stop. She just put my daughter down
make our lives a hell.
on the oor of the moving bus and rushed towards
In his case, not just his life, but of all of them whom he
the door!!
came across, daily. I have never seen him afterwards.
The most