Kalpa to Nako (16/05/11)

Kalpa to Nako (16/05/11)

I woke at 7:30 A.M and then ate a quick breakfast before I packed up and left the room. I walked to the bus stand and waited there for a while before the bus to Peo showed up. I retreated once more to my chosen corner seat and sat down, with the heavy bag on my lap and unable to move. The bus was a lot more crowded than the last time I took it and a teenage girl squeezed herself in between me and another guy, forcing me to literally try and stick to the corner in an attempt to minimize physical contact with her. I’m very uncomfortable in crowded situations and I try to avoid any significant physical contact as far as is possible under the circumstances. And in this case, it was a female, and this compounded my discomfort greatly. She, however, seemed perfectly content and with complete lack of abandon fidgeted around very often. I pressed my face to the window, hugged my faithful bag, and tried to shut out my mind until we reached Peo.

As we rolled along on the journey, people got off at a couple of places and I could see an empty seat up ahead and I suggested that the girl would be more comfortable there. She, being a mischievous brat, snidely, and to the amusement of the other passengers, replied that she was comfortable where she was and gave me an evil smile; girls these days... As if to add to my suffering the bus started playing an infernal song whose sole lyric by way of endless repetition was, ‘Ishq na karna’. (Don’t fall in love) I heard out the male singer repeat this line several times over and over again and I was relieved when he was done. However, when the female singer started singing the same thing, I couldn’t restrain myself any longer and I said in a loud voice, “Zindagi mein ishq nahi karoonga bhai, bas gaana badal do” (I promise I’ll never fall in love as long as I live, just change the song) and everybody had a good laugh at my frustration; they didn’t change the song. And finally, we reached Peo.

I went to the booking counter and booked a ticket to Nako and I was told the bus was at 12:00 P.M. I had 45 minutes so I sat down and resumed reading Don Quixote. The part of the book where I resumed detailed some extremely hilarious exploits of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza and Cervantes’ wit caused me to burst out laughing uncontrollably. I slowly realized that I was surrounded by people and when I looked up I saw a variety of emotions on peoples’ faces ranging from amusement to admonishment. I was still chuckling a little bit so I decided to put away the book until I was alone and could enjoy it without any social constraints. 12:00 P.M came and went and the bus was nowhere to be seen.

The bus finally showed up at 1:30 P.M and I found my seat next to a young Buddhist monk and some other lethargic person. I had the window seat but my bag prevented me from taking it and I had to sit on the aisle seat (so fancy when used in the context of HRTC ordinary buses) trying to protect my bag from the army of passengers continuously filling the bus. The conductor, a foul tempered man, showed up eventually and demanded to know whose bag mine was. I meekly told him that it belonged to me and he glared at me as if to suggest that I was an abysmal fool and told me to throw the bag on the top of the bus. I was dumbstruck by this suggestion and I tried reasoning with him but he was a hassled man and he told me that I had no other option. Having never climbed to the top of the bus or entrusted my bag to it, I was extremely apprehensive. Completely devoid of grace, I climbed up to the top of the bus, and I was lost as to how I would secure my bag there.

The conductor gave a short blast on his whistle indicating that it was time to move and I hurriedly tied the straps to the railing and prayed to God that they would hold during the journey. Again, clumsily, and amidst much laughter, I made my way down and took my seat. It was much more comfortable without the bag but I was still terrified at the prospect of losing it to one of the sharp turns. For the first 20 kilometers I kept a vigilant watch on both sides of the bus lest my bag tumble down. After that point, though, I was tired and decided to leave the fate of the bag to the Gods. The bus journey was extremely bumpy and the crowd was making me very uncomfortable. Everybody seemed to be buying a ticket for Speelo and I was anxiously awaiting this magical place where some respite seemed to be in order.

Somewhere during the journey and for some reason, my right knee started hurting like the devil and no matter what I did; it only started to get worse. The exponentially increasing sharp pain took my focus away from everything and I was praying for Speelo to show up. I was overjoyed when we finally reached Speelo and I was the veritable bat out of hell getting out of the bus. I stretched my knee a little bit and the pain fast receded. I climbed to the top of the bus to check the condition of my bag and discovered that it was solidly in place; I patted it approvingly and climbed back down. I then took a look around and discovered an alcohol shop. Remembering the lessons of Kalpa, I immediately bought a half of RS for Rs. 180 and settled myself back into the bus. The bus started again soon and rolled along but came to an abrupt stop at Tinku Nallah. A significant landslide had occurred and the machines were trying their best to clear the path but it seemed like a good wait and most of the people got off the bus and watched the process. Several vehicles on either side were backed up and this suggested that this had been going on for a while. After half an hour into the wait, heavy winds started blowing dust all over the place and everyone retreated to the safety of the bus. Yet another 30 minutes passed before the road was finally cleared and we moved again.

The rest of the journey was tiring, boring and extremely dusty. I must have inhaled, swallowed, and had enough dust settle on me sufficient to build a small castle. By the time the distance markers indicated that Nako was close, it was already evening and there were some beautiful landscapes in sight. I tried to take a few pictures but my cheap Kodak camera proved to be utterly useless and I settled back waiting for Nako. We finally reached Nako and the moment I stepped out of the bus, the power went off. Some of the backup street lights were still going and I managed to find a hotel room in the Lovon hotel. The room was expensive by trip standards and was for Rs. 350 a night. He wouldn’t budge on the rate and in the darkness I had no option but to take it.

As expected the phone signals were completely dead and no STD/ISD booth could be found. I was told that even the BSNL phones would only start working after the power was restored. I waited for an hour and the wait didn’t seem promising so I went downstairs to the hotel and ordered myself a little food. Thankfully the power came back on at that point and I managed to put a call through to home from the owner’s cell phone. I ate my chowmein and then went upstairs to have a couple of drinks before I finally crashed.