PUBLIC TRANSPORT - YES OR NO

I’ll report two incidents, which have recently occurred.
Incident 1

Day before yesterday, my wife and I decided to visit my aunt (father’s sister).
(We call this relationship Phupi.
This is also one of the beauties of India.
For each relationship we have a different name and we know where we stand.
Since this is a whole topic, I’ll deal with it in as separate topic in another article.)
Now, when my wife stands on the weighing machine, the machine wishes she had not stood on it.
Consequently she has more aches and pains in her joints.
We had walked a hundred yard or so when she wanted me to call a cab.
I believe in using public transport for reasons I’ll soon explain.
We could not come to an agreement and so returned home.
Incident 2
A week or so earlier, I was traveling to office, again by public transport through Easter Metropolitan Bypass.
For those not living in Kolkata, I’ll explain this road.
This road was made about twenty years ago.
It connected the North and South Kolkata by a
Broad four-lane road passing through the Eastern side of Kolkata.
This road has been widened time and again and is now a 10-lane road.
About 15 years ago, when I used to drive my motorcycle,
I could travel the whole distance of 10 kms from Park Circus to Ultadanga without a single stoppage for traffic lights.
(It has been one of the few development works done by the left front government since it came to power in W. Bengal
All the others were destructive. The ratio being 5 is to 95.
5 % development, 95% destruction.
It is being said by his detractors that the road was made especially for Jyoti Basu,
who started living in Salt Lake, so that he could travel to Writer’s building, his office, without any hindrance.
But development is development and we should praise it, especially since development work has been so few in W. Bengal.)
Now there are at least 10 traffic lights in this same stretch and where I could cover this distance in 15 minutes (I never exceeded 40/50 Km speed), it would take me 30 minutes now, if I drove my motorcycle.
I stopped driving after I got spondilytis 10 years ago.
Well, in the public transport I was traveling one person started cursing the traffic lights for delaying the bus.
I heard him for some time but then asked how long does it take him now to reach office.
He replied, “: two hours”
I then told him, if there were no traffic lights, he would reach in three hours.
That made him think and he kept quiet after that.
I always prefer public transport.
The reasons are:
Foremost, it is easy on your pocket.
It is eco-friendly as it causes less ozone depletion per person.
It saves precious foreign exchange for India.
Of course, now-a-days Indian reserves are bulging with billions of dollars.
But still we should try to conserve our unreplenishable natural resources.
It brings you in contact with the real India.
You come to know the variety of people God has made.
There are disadvantages also.
In the summer heat, traveling in a crowded bus is not easy on your nose, ears, clothes and body aches.
And you have to keep your pockets safe in areas like Raja bazaar, Park Circus, Mechua Bazar.
These areas are infested with pickpockets.
I usually carry a small handbag and keep my valuables in there.
When I travel in these routes, many a time I have felt nimble fingers, probing in my pocket.
But I can smile away for I know there search would be fruitless.

Cheers

Radheshyam