Everyday for going to my school, I travel by two buses. The first bus is synonymous to heaven: cushioned push-back seats and lovely bus mates to travel with. The second bus (yeah, bus no.5!) is the one which makes me uncomfortable and in a melancholic mood every time I travel…It takes me from downtown to my school in 10 minutes, but believe me, those ten minutes always seem like eons away..
I was thinking today why this bus makes me so depressed??? May be because of the kind of people who travel with me on that bus. ..or may be the air, the feel of it....or may be the uncomfortable thought process it forces me into…Who travels by Bus Number 5???? Well..it’s a heterogeneous mixture of all races; but they all have one thing is common…they all belong to the socially-deprived class of US of A….Somehow, being in the same place as them is taxing..
When I board the bus, I always feel the air has somehow changed. It acquires a strange, obnoxious smell of its own….I try to match the smell to something familiar …To my olfactory senses, it comes as a strange amalgamation of sweat, frustration, poverty, depression, anger and off course, the noisome smell you can associate with no cleansing act.
Today after submerging myself into that odour, I gingerly found a seat for me. I stopped chewing my gum…I am afraid that one day, I am going to catch some lethal virus in the process!! …I switched off my Ipod, put it inside my backpack (in case, somebody tries to snatch it from me..)…But there is no escape from the inevitable thoughts that clandestinely enter my mind.…
While I sit waiting for my stop anxiously, ambiguous thoughts intrigued me…. it is for real? Are these people inhabitants of mighty all- powerful The United States of America? I see a lady wearing torn jeans (for a change, not for fashion!).. men wearing soiled, smelly clothes…young girls wearing cheap excess makeup…Whatever happened to the common notion of America being an all-rich country…???!!! Common, I am not ready to face poverty in US!!!
The senile lady sitting next to me interrupted my thoughts; she started talking about her old boyfriend who died after suffering from AIDS!! Oh, this is not happening to me….I never imagined I would travel by such bus sitting next to a lady blabbering unconsciously about the incurable disease!! I couldn’t utter a single appropriate word …the air became suffocating…and thankfully, my stop came and I got down hurriedly …Relief sweeps my face and I breathe again…Today’s ordeal is done with!
I was thinking today why this bus makes me so depressed??? May be because of the kind of people who travel with me on that bus. ..or may be the air, the feel of it....or may be the uncomfortable thought process it forces me into…Who travels by Bus Number 5???? Well..it’s a heterogeneous mixture of all races; but they all have one thing is common…they all belong to the socially-deprived class of US of A….Somehow, being in the same place as them is taxing..
When I board the bus, I always feel the air has somehow changed. It acquires a strange, obnoxious smell of its own….I try to match the smell to something familiar …To my olfactory senses, it comes as a strange amalgamation of sweat, frustration, poverty, depression, anger and off course, the noisome smell you can associate with no cleansing act.
Today after submerging myself into that odour, I gingerly found a seat for me. I stopped chewing my gum…I am afraid that one day, I am going to catch some lethal virus in the process!! …I switched off my Ipod, put it inside my backpack (in case, somebody tries to snatch it from me..)…But there is no escape from the inevitable thoughts that clandestinely enter my mind.…
While I sit waiting for my stop anxiously, ambiguous thoughts intrigued me…. it is for real? Are these people inhabitants of mighty all- powerful The United States of America? I see a lady wearing torn jeans (for a change, not for fashion!).. men wearing soiled, smelly clothes…young girls wearing cheap excess makeup…Whatever happened to the common notion of America being an all-rich country…???!!! Common, I am not ready to face poverty in US!!!
The senile lady sitting next to me interrupted my thoughts; she started talking about her old boyfriend who died after suffering from AIDS!! Oh, this is not happening to me….I never imagined I would travel by such bus sitting next to a lady blabbering unconsciously about the incurable disease!! I couldn’t utter a single appropriate word …the air became suffocating…and thankfully, my stop came and I got down hurriedly …Relief sweeps my face and I breathe again…Today’s ordeal is done with!
1 comment:
Get a car...simple solution to your everyday ordeal!
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