I got into a bus at Edapally bus stop and moved into the middle of the bus. Being a bus heading to Fort Kochi area it soon filled up with a lot more people, pushing me towards the front 1/3rd of the bus. Despite the rush, I still felt that it was going to be a quite dull road and would have even enjoyed the ride had I been able to get a seat. However things became even more interesting in  few minutes.

At the Janata bus stop, a few people got in and the bus left. A few yards away a guy in jeans and a white t-shirt flagged the bus down and got in. Instead of moving into the bus, he balanced himself against the opening of the door and tried to take money from his wallet. The bus conducted asked him to move inside but the youth just stood there mutely. A couple of more times the bus conductor sternly told the guy to move in or get out of the bus. This time the youth, no more than 25-26 years of age, moved a little bit inside and stood next to two elderly women who were seated in the first seat on the left side of the bus. The women, one old enough to be his mother and the other old enough to be his grandmother, did not pay much attention to him until the reeking smell of alcohol made it’s way to our noses. The guy was stinking drunk and highly unstable on his feet.

At one time he tried to make a call – from 3 of his mobiles at the same time! Soon the people at the front of the bus were all staring at the drunk – he was fondling & stroking the older woman’s hair & patting her head. And he even called her ‘mummy’! Oh for the love of….she at first knocked his hand back but he still continued to do it. People were finding it stupid and funny at the same time. The old woman soon realized that he wasn’t going to harm her but she started losing it when he started confessing his sins to her. That was too  much for any of us who could hear the drunk moron. The bus conductor couldn’t stand him much longer and there was the fear that the idiot would puke his guts out. As soon as we arrived at the stop for which he had paid his ticket, the conductor ‘helped’ the moron to his feet and ushered him out the bus. The guy tried handing him a Rs.500 note (for what we shall never know) but the conductor said ‘no thanks’ and off he went.