10 years have passed!!!

I had a strange feeling yesterday when someone asked me “Where do you stay?”. I told him that I stay in Rohini which is around 40 kms from Noida. He asked me don’t you get tired traveling this much every day. And I told him that I have been traveling this route for 10 years now.

10 years!!!…I reflected is a really long time which I have spent on this route. From Mathura road to Noida, I have almost been taking the same route every day. But each day seems to be my first day to office when I was thrilled to join my new job.

When I started, “my savari” was the local blue line buses racing around each other for passengers. The dirt, smell and oogling eyes were a part of my daily routine. I always used to be so busy struggling to get a secure place to stand and avoid looking at the people around me. I remember running after the buses and changing two buses to reach office on time but it was the most irritating time of the day for me. But as it was the cheapest mode to travel, it was the only option with that salary.

One day a mail was floated in office for car pools and I thought I would attempt to join one so replied to the mail. A girl mailed me for the car pool and we planned to meet at the cafeteria. It was funny meeting as she asked me “which car do you have” and I said I thought you have a car. We laughed and then she introduced me to a chartered bus which used to come from our area, brand Ruby.

Chartered buses a very popular medium of travel then and my “second savari”, had its own strange environment. Aunties used to gossip about their in laws and uncles were busy discussing office politics. But sometimes when they looked up from their discussions, they tried to make friends with people like us from corporate. The agenda for such friendly approach always used to be either evaluation of this generation to theirs or sizing us up for their sons/daughters who are eligible for marriage. I still remember some names from NTPC Kalia ji, Mr. Sharma and one sardarji uncle. Along with them was Anita ji who was a jhansi ki rani from the security team of our company. She had all the news on who was mostly seen in the cafeteria, who is soon going to run away with whom.

Those people actually became a part of my every day travel but along with them was the road, the monuments which I started noticing as I was not busy avoiding that single touch and oogles. Over the years I have seen a lot of new constructions including the metro, fly away bridges, road crossing posts, building renovations and new structures coming on the route. It has changed from a primitive city to a highly modernized city, thanks to the common wealth and Delhi Sarkar.

But few things which have not changed are big Jams, people sleeping on the road, water logging on the roads in rains, people parking their vehicles on the flyover to bow to Hanuman ji and many such things which I might not have noticed.

When I reflect back, most of my best friends, I have met on this route. One of my best friends actually met me when our bus was broken and she had to face a lot of rain with me. I was the new joinee that day and the bus was broken on the way. We took an auto, but it was stuck in water logging, then another auto which met with an accident and then we literally walked on the road in the heaviest rain of the season.

One these roads, she had taught me how to drive my car which was my “third savari” after some progression in the corporate world. She guided me on the driving tips, alternates and made me confident to face the Delhi roads and the world in general. I was so afraid to driver that I often use to give it up especially after my first accident, but she gave the strength and tact to keep moving. Then she fortunately got enrolled in one of the best universities in US and moved on, but here I was driving confidently on the route.

My “fourth savari” now is my office bus, where I have met some good people who are a vital part of my life, but along with them are the roads, the monuments, the renovations and the Big Jams.

Today, I thought I would capture this route, the road, the instances and monuments which have steadily been with me. Every day I see them wishing me a warm welcome and a very good morning.