On the lighter side.....

Hmm... This post should have come a long back..., Probably soon after Mumbai Indians were shown the door off IPL, Indian Paisa League.

The city that i have been staying off late was Bangalore!! So unintentionally Bangalore becomes "My team" but, there was a catch. I was staying at a PG and we were 8 in all, Different people across the country and each picked up one, Someone else picked up Mumbai Indians and I was given option between, DC, KKR and Rajasthan Royals.!! I decided to go with Deccan Chargers.

But, now with Mumbai Indians being out of tournament, DC & Bangalore was quite Inn. I decided not to be beaten up or atleast not being stared by the local public at Bangalore, hence never sported a DC T.shirt., But got more used to taking up effort to speak kannada (god knows how it sounded.) Too good, especially when you are using the local BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) buses for commuting to and fro...

Wanted to be a little more open to the "Namma Bengaluru" crowd and this stint took place when i got into the bus from the home to office. To the conductor who tried keeping the crowd away from the door.... "Erudu ITPL..." I said..., Conductor quickly collected Rs. 20 and handed me 2 tickets to ITPL. Wow, the day 1 was amazing, with 1 word spoken out. The next day, it was the same time and hence the same bus and the same conductor, So this time.. me being alone, I showed my voting finger and said ITPL.., Yup!! that was 1 ITPL., The conductor, still gave me a ticket and took Rs. 10 from me and flashed his front 4 teeth !!!

So now that we'd turned friendly.., i asked him " Ennu Saar... Ennu Samachara ?? " (How r u ? or for the dudes, Wass up..) for which he replied something which i barely could understand, but hopefully must have said that he is fine. I smiled back. What if he must have said that his wife is not well, Mother in Law expired last week, and had a loss at his part time business and i replied him by smiling back ?? I would have been a dead meat!!

As the time and road passed by, the man, would have been expecting me to ask for few more questions and discuss something else (maybe the elections) or any damn thing on this earth. He wasn't having much of crowd then and the bus was running empty!! He came back and asked me something in Kannada, now for the champ that i was in kannada, I replied him... " Kannada Swalpa Swalpa Gothu....." (I know a little little kannada...).

"Hindi ??..." I asked him.. He said, Hindi Gotilla saar... "English..??", Gotilla saar.. I had a "I am sorry dude" kinda face towards him... which he accepted quite gleefully. He was aware of the fact that there are many outsiders who come to Bangalore and this guy could be one among them. The next day, me caught in the same bus and same conductor. For the guy he was, He really had a part time business and he handed me a Rs. 5 ticket and charged me only Rs. 8. Gosh isn't that business ? I scratch u're back and u scratch my ass !!

Now, that was allowed in Bangalore, they've a mutual understanding between the bus conductors, If am short of a rupee or so, he may not as well give me a ticket, but can travel with whatever i have!! He would never be running out of pocket money for a peg or two at the end of the day. He had been quite happy trying his business stunt on me and even happy that i never objected to it. The fact was, I could not ask about whats happening in kannada and the guy did not know english or hindi.

He, made it clear about giving extra service to his newly discovered client, Used to walk up often and pass a grin, would often shout out "ITPLaaa" and all that a bus conductor can do to make his client happy. It was one fine day that, I was caught dosing in the bus (Thanks to IPL matches). Our business man came upto me and tried to speak to me, but u know, action speak louder than words and i interpretted his actions as "What ??". He went over and over with his action of "What ??" and when i observed outside, it was a place that i never have been to before and i looked back at him quite inquistively....

He finally managed some english and asked... " Where are you upping...?" I had a (:) look on my face. What did he mean ?? From the surrounding i knew that i had missed the stop and he wanted to ask me where am i alighting ??... Hmm... for the english that he spoke, he seemed to be funny, but then, wasn't that a proper english ? he must have asked, Where are you gonna UP your BOTT.

Cheers...
Dhinu!!