Do you know who I am?

जानते हो मै कौन हूँ ? इज्जत से बात करो!

[Do you know who I am? Speak to me with respect!]

Who was this? I looked out of the window expecting to see PM Modi, Amit Shah or Rahul Gandhi, if not them, then definitely SRK, Salman, Amir or at least a 10 episode vernacular TV soap star. An average looking man in his 40s'– pear shaped, semi bald, 'seemingly white collared', was the source. He made a few more indignant statements about being spoken to rudely by a ''छोटा आदमी [person of lower status in life]'!!??? Our man was having a loud arguement with the bus driver and his assistant. The soft spoken and calm 'छोटा आदमी' was assertive while being respectful.

I was traveling between cities by one of the many private travel company busses that ply the route. This was the 3rd consecutive weekend that I was doing the Mumbai - Pune – Mumbai journey. The 4 hour Mumbai - Pune trip the previous day had been thoroughly enjoyable. Notably different from the ones I had undertaken on this route about 10 years ago. An “Asiad' bus from Dadar station, though rickety, was still considered 'much- better-than-an-ST-bus' and had bus staff who spoke to the passengers like they were doing a favour! The expectation from the journeys back then, was the bare minimum – to get to the destination, turning a blind eye to everything happening around. I suppose this can be safely called 'lack of expectation'.

A lot seems to have changed in a decade, in fact, all most everything about the bus services seems to have improved significantly. There are a few things I have learnt about the transport companies and the behaviour pattern of their drivers and assistants.There are a number of privately operated long distance busses running extremely efficient services. Bookings can be done 'on-line' at the bus company website or other travel portals or across the counters at the numerous small offices located at a number of convenient vantage touch points along the route. The 'luxury' volvo air-conditioned busses are well maintained and a pleasure to travel by. And not very highly priced too. They offer to pick up passengers from fairly distant suburbs with a number of 'pick-up' points along the way. Every one of these pit stops has an 'office' – not a make-shift wooden box with a chair behind it, placed in the middle of the footpath, oblivious to the inconvenience it causes to people. The offices are commercial spaces in legitimate buildings. Courteous and helpful staff sell tickets and patiently answer the numerous and quite often repetitive, passenger queries. The busses are on-time, every time! The excellent coordination between the bus staff/driver and the office staff at the next halt is evident. The staff in the busses are energetic, extremely friendly, helpful and more admirably, always cheerful.Oh! there is plenty of shouting of instructions to each other, loud banter and laughter, and announcements for passengers. I suppose some things will never change. But thats the heart warming aspect of progress in India, right? Improvement without ever losing our comforting cultural touch!

A series of workshops spread over 5 consecutive weekends was something I had been wanting to participate in for almost a year. The dread of cumbersome travel to another city was probably the reason I had been conjuring up excuses, to avoid commitment earlier. Once I had signed up for it, the travel was a necessary evil, i would have to resign myself to. This was my state of mind at the start. With every trip, the initial hesitation and fear receded.

Now, somewhere midway through the series of workshops that was as wonderful as I had expected, I was being forced to change my pessimistic view that 'India and Indians will never change'. Our country and countrymen had changed for the better and I hadn't noticed!Now coming back to our 'Mr. Do-you-know-who-I-am?'. Hopefully one of the dwindling breed, who still insist that 'हम ऐसे ही हैं' [We are like this only].

Our man, had been standing at one of the 'out-of-the-city-limits' pick up stops with his wife and young daughter. The 2 women needed to travel to Mumbai. The only 2 vacant seats available, were towards the rear end of the bus. My DYKWIA had been repeatedly requesting for seats in the front rows and was turned down. The bus staff had no choice. The bus was otherwise full. Not believing the claim, Mr DYKWIA got into the bus to see for himself. And had reluctantly agreed to the rear seats, he helped his family with their baggage. He then stayed in the bus chatting with them – there were instructions and farewell exchanges for about 10 minutes! The patient bus staff asked him if his family was indeed travelling by the bus. If yes, would Mr DYKWIA please make the payment and get off the bus? There was a schedule to keep. And this was done politely. He did get off the bus in embarrassment. This was the trigger for the ' tum chote log' [you small people] tirade.

And then he started to bargain on the bus charges! That was a non-negotiable. He pulled out an ID card and threateningly poked it under the bus staff's nose. 'में तेरे मालिक को जेल भिजवा सकता हूँ'! [I have the power to send the owner of the bus company to jail!]. Unfortunately for him, the bus staff stayed firm and refused to budge. My DYKWIA eventually paid up, and the bus was on its way to Mumbai, with his family as well, half an hour behind schedule.

Seated in the first row, I could hear the conversation between the helper and the driver as the bus rolled on the Mumbai-Pune expressway. A hearty laugh they had. Mr DYKWIA was a mid-level  tax official at the regional office. His designation obviously not big enough to scare anyone. I wonder if his wife and teenaged daughter were embarrassed too? And would they take it up with man of the house later, to prevent future occurrence?

Wasn't he supposed to use his ID card to set right the wrongs? Rather than do a wrong and use it to add weight to it?Somethings, in India, will need a little more time to change. And change, they will.

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Originally published in 2015