Rammed Brains - Jammed Buses

The other day, I had encountered a thought provoking incident, when I was coming home to Guntur from Secunderabad. The bus started near the place where I live and collected passengers on its way, to facilitate people living afar, before leaving the city. One of its stop was the MG Bus Station. And here, the bus got stuck in an All-Bus traffic jam for two hours; I repeat IN the station.

The situation was pathetic. After nearly an hour and a quarter, I lost my patience in the bus. Having seen little improvement in the easing of the traffic flow, I got down the bus to see if any of the RTC (Road Transport Corporation) management was trying to solve the problem on hand. I was annoyed at what I had seen. There were 12 guards assigned to handle the issue and all of them were happy staying together and doing the same thing as the other (willingly whistling and swinging their batons at each and every bus driver), rather than distributing into groups; some to try and stop further rotting and some to focus and clear the principle factor.

If that was the case with those gentlemen, the bus drivers were no better either. They should have been the primary people to shoulder the responsibility of clearing the mess. To my utter disbelief, I saw a number of buses trying to squeeze through even this air tight gridlock causing further suffocation. The frequent loud honking just added spice to the already tested nerves of one and all.

Simultaneously, there was never an announcement from the department asking their other drivers, waiting to take off from their platforms, not to move till the traffic gets cleared. Instead, I heard the voice calling for the passengers to board their respective buses as they were ready to start their journeys, which was humanly impossible given that situation. All in all, the moment was highly depressing.

When I had convinced two of the guards on the importance of monitoring even in the other parts, then they started attending to it and slowly things started going in the right direction. Only God knows, if it was due to the general passing of time that the situation got into a rhythm and solved on its own or the right steps at the right places that the demanding moment was overcome. I was more than relieved to be on the move again and onto the Highway.

When I look back, I could only reflect on the difference in the approaches of public and private sectors. How I wish the RTC officials coming up with some telling measures to keep the common man in his comfort zone rather than testing him/her, time and again!!!!