Dont write off the Local Transport yet

Esther here  ^_^


Every time I tell my friends that I love travelling by local buses, they roll their eyes and think I've lost it! They tell me that if I traveled by buses everyday, I would get the real picture and start hating every second of bus journeys. I beg to differ.

I remember when I first asked my parents if I could travel by bus, I had to assure them A MILLION times that I was travelling with experts who would get me home safely and that in the 15 minute journey I wouldn't get myself killed.

I don’t blame my parents for worrying. We often read bone chilling stories of girls getting molested by 50 year old perverts, people reportedly getting on buses and never reaching home, etc.

Unfortunately for me, every time any of my elder family members board a bus, something weird and funny had to happen to heighten their beliefs.

Anyway, back to the point– would you be surprised if I told you that till date, in my 2 years of bus travel, nothing bad has ever happened to me? *touch wood*
Quite the opposite!

Take the example of yesterday, we were trying to get from St Inez to the Panjim bus stop..it was 2am and since we couldn't find a rickshaw anywhere, we decided to take the bus. When we finally got a bus (after Carlos and I ran like mad people through the traffic to stop it while my siblings calmly took their time in getting to the bus -.-) to our shock, we realised that Elaine hadn’t boarded the bus. So imagine, after initially hearing fellow passengers grumble for making them wait FOR 2 MINUTES, we stopped the bus again . I got off , only to find Elaine happily buying a REINDEER PEN from a stationary shop. We were so grateful that the conductor and driver had actually waited for us, even while a line of cars and buses honked furiously behind them.

Forget waiting for us, another time when I was travelling from the Goa’s commercial capital Margao to my house, I took a local bus. It was about 2:30pm on a Sunday and the bus was PACKED. Fearing that I wouldn't be able to reach the door at my stop and since I was already suffocated by the crowd, I decided to get off the bus a stop away from my house. The weather was beautiful and I love walking so I didn’t mind the 15 minute walk home... To my surprise, the bus went forward for about 3 secs and reversed all of a sudden. The conductor actually opened the door and told me to get in. Most of the people in the bus were commenting on how this wasn’t my stop and since I hardly travel, I must have gotten confused *Yea right*.

Pretty sweet right?

To conclude, I have found that *MOST of the time* if you dress and behave decently, people generally DO NOT interfere with you.    ( ^ , ^ )