Volvo Etiquettes!

As a frequent traveler in inter-city Volvo buses, I always observed how co-passengers behave in an enclosed environment during the duration of the journey.

First things first...the way they rush in to get inside the bus is just like getting into an moffussil bus. Despite being well-educated IT professionals (most of them in Bangalore-Hyderabad route), they just don't care for manners. While I was getting my ticket checked by the conductor in the entrance steps of the bus, the luggage bag of the guy behind me was hitting my legs. Pretty irritating! I turned around to look at the guy at his face and told him to back off and he made a face as if I was in the wrong!

Secondly, the way they stuff up things in the luggage rack above looks like they are shifting all their stuff via Volvo bus. No matter what the conductor orders all the baggage to be off the luggage rack to enable free flow of cool air from the A/C vents the passengers don't care.

There was this guy whose entire family (no...it was his clan) that had come to see him off! The guy looked like a fresher who has just got a job at Hyd. As the conductor didn't allow his folks to get in, he alone walked in almost rubbing in the wrong way before settling down in his seat. He started shouting through the glass window his goodbye much to the amusement & irritation of other passengers.

Another problem is that everyone brings in their laptops (mostly company-issued) and store in the rack above only to get confused in the morning in picking up the right one. After all, almost all the bags look the same. Touchwood it never happened to me that my laptop was swapped with someone else'.

The worst of all is the way they speak to their folks - personal or official in their cell phones in the middle of night in a loud voice or some one courteous enough keeps mumbling all along disturbing the sleep one can catch up in an overnight journey. Here was a lady who looked every bit a senior-level exec with an IT company who was giving instructions to her deputies on phone in a loud voice. I'm not sure whether she talks in a loud voice all the time or was she showing off that she's a powerful exec in her company to other co-passengers.

There was another guy who was talking apparently to his family folks in a loud voice about how he's settled inside the bus and asked them not to worry about him and his supposed arrival time, etc. Back to me was another guy who was just talking in a low monotone to whoever was on the other line and it didn't help for me to catch a few hours of sleep.

Alive came the onboard TV and it took a while for the conductor to get the video right (it always happens in almost all the Volvo buses I've traveled - I don't know why though). He experimented with a few DVDs of different movies before settling for a boring movie...all the latest ones didn't work..ouch! The audio volume was too low & inconsistent in clarity.

The buses meandered through the city traffic before hitting the highway and pick up speed. The conductor came distributing blankets & water bottles (appreciate the latter).

We stopped for a late dinner at Chikballapur and after about 30 mins off we were to Hyd. On boarding the bus, there was strong smell of cigarettes and someone apparently had a smoke during the break! Folks are unmindful of other passengers sensitivities!

Further, a family had taken food inside the bus during the halt and the bus was reeking of strong pickles for sometime until I got used to the smell.

I don't know for what reason but the DVD wasn't played to logically complete the movie. People who were watching the first part of the movie were disappointed and there were some grumbling from the guys behind my back. But it was of no use.

Sleeping in the bus was a problem....lots of co-passengers were loud snorers! Again the cell phone talkers opened their talk shop despite the time was close to midnight!

At about 7 am I woke up to some devotional songs in Telugu and the conductor came handing out everyone wet tissue sachets (appreciate this too!). Again the TV was on, this time around playing some promo ads for patronising the bus service.

On entering Hyd city, the bus stopped at a couple of places to drop off passengers and finally arrived at IBS on time. We got down in a few minutes slightly weary (after all they tout the bus services as 'flight on wheels') only to be surrounded by auto rickshaw drivers eager to hijack naive passengers. Will this ever stop? God only knows!

Traveling by Volvo is an experience by itself. Do let me know your experiences by way of comments. I look forward to see if anything varies from mine!

My second post after 2 yrs!

Hi All,

My second post took me more than 2 yrs since my first one. Phew! Time flew away so fast....I was busy at work & beyond and couldn't spare time for blogging. Hopefully, I'm going to regularly blog my random thoughts. So here I'm slowing down a bit before I pick up speed at work. Hope to use this opportunity to pen my thoughts.
Keep checking! I'll write more...I promise!

Cheers!
Ram
www.linkedin.com/in/gramkumar

First Post!

Hi All,

New Year Greetings!

Welcome to my blog - Random Thoughts!

As the subtitle suggests, this blog will serve as a platform for others to see what's my take on life.

In the coming days, I plan to post my thoughts & views on topics as varied & rich as it can get. So keep checking & let me know what you think!

And wish you all a very Happy & Prosperous New Year 2008!

Cheers!

Ram
http://www.grkonweb.blogspot.com/