Buses are varied, seldom dull and very much a part of life here. They can be miserable; they can be wonderfully comfortable and clean (ok- they seldom are but the CAN be). They can be crowded (mostly) or not. They can be rickety (often) or fairly new; they have good shocks (sometimes) or not (mostly). But, as I said, they are seldom dull. The past month, I've had more than one occasion to make short trips on one certain local bus. It makes multiple daily runs from a village into the city and back out to the village. It goes through another small village on its way, but those people seldom ride this bus because, well they have their own bus, you know? So- the deal is, everyone on this bus nearly always knows each other and they know the driver- he's one of theirs and they're his. And they laugh and yell and fight and joke and carry on. The noise level is often very high.
So, I got on one day and sat across from this innocent (oh haha) looking baba... She's got a cane. She's old. She's dependent. She's needy, helpless, take pity on me... this is what she projects...
And then, a mean bus station lady gets on and demands to see our tickets. And not just that, she claims that all pensioners must have a small token that shows they paid a nominal fee to be on the bus... not a ticket- they ride for free... but they have to pay about 10cents (US) to get on the bus... makes sense, right? Ok- I don't get it either. Neither did Baba... She reared up... literally..
And boy did she give herself away then. Helpless? Ha! Needy? (well in some respects, maybe) No way! Dependent? Oh double Ha! And that cane- I think she could have used it... for something other than walking... She had quite a lot to say. She barked that mean bus station lady right down the aisle and back up the aisle and out the door. It's her job. And she did it admirably! ps- remember this post? yeah. Same bus, same driver. I suspect that he remembers me. We are very polite and respectful with each other. Thanks.
Not sure I understood everything..the mean bus lady was actually not a bus employee, is that it?
ReplyDeletehahahaha... i guess she showed them. and i was kinda trying to forget about that paint bucket fiasco. if we don't talk about it, it never happened, right? ;)
ReplyDeletekristina- the mean bus station lady was an employee of the bus station.
ReplyDeleteLani- you've got the idea...
ooooooo, and you had a front row seat... where's the popcorn!
ReplyDeleteHow do you have your camera ready for these great moments??? I'm assuming you are a little subtle about it??? :D
ReplyDeleteLaugh out loud!!! And I didn't even have to click on your link to guess which old post you were refering to. I laughed out loud again just thinking of you and your painting incident.
ReplyDeleteI ate the popcorn! :)
ReplyDelete@Janis- well first of all, I disable the camera sounds (as well as all my other beeps and unnecessary phone noises); then you just sort of look at your phone interested like and aimlessly point... cell phones work great for inconspicuous pic taking.
:) (too bad I missed getting a pic of the paint on the bus disaster!)