MSRTC bus, popularly known as ST has been an integral part of my life. There are countless memories, reflected in the following poem, associated with an ST – the childhood travels, the engineering days(especially, the weekend travels to and fro home), the incredible rush during Ganpati and Holi, the routine quarrels and ruckus, ST being only mode of transport in remote areas where roads barely exist – one can hear an ST from over a kilometre and so on.
As for my scribbles, from my end, ST receives a standing ovation – more than 80% of my writing has come up during my ST travels !
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However long the vacation,
The travels weren’t galore,
While sweet was the destination,
Its the journey I enjoyed more
Standing besides a window seat,
Holding a bar in tiny hands,
Facing the wind,rains & the heat,
Enthralled by the Nature’s magic wands
Moving out to a new place,
With hopes to shape the future,
We plied on it at a quick pace,
It did its role to nurture
Looking forward to the weekend,
Bumping into friends while on board,
Precision,strategies & setting new trends,
Never feeling tired or bored
Braving the festival exodus,
Those evergreen,hilarious tiffs,
The air filled with a sweet fuss,
The conductor-drivers loud riffs
Two people reserving the same seat,
One seat shared by two,
Exchanging words with a heat,
And the weary conductor’s shoo
Waiting long at the shabby stops,
Breaking through an aggressive mob,
Catching a window seat in few hops,
Patting self for the good job
Getting lost in the world of thoughts,
Words flow as the wheels roll,
Writing is done in lots,
Where the rides play a major role,
When remote lands we want to reach,
At any point of Time,
Practising what they preach,
In farthest corners you can hear its chime
Today the roads aren’t good enough,
The traffic is unbearable,
Endless rush has made travels rough,
The delays have grown intolerable
With times the modes change,
And elsewhere is the focus,
From it even if I estrange,
I’ll cherish the Life in an ST bus
Life is about being kinetic 