Do You Observe? Well I do; (:

Having your own conveyance is indeed a blessing of the Almighty, but if you don’t have one, still you can make your travel an activity of enjoyment by doing what I mostly do—i.e., reading and observing people’s faces and behaviors. And believe me, this is really an amazing activity.

Sometimes (for any reason) I don’t have my car or bike with me. In such cases, I prefer to walk or take a local van or bus service. Observing the faces, talks, and gestures of people is really, really a source of amusement (at least for me) while you are traveling. I’m not saying to interfere or get indulged in their activities—no. Just sit calmly and relax, and observe what is happening around you. Imagine what people might be thinking in their minds. 🙂

Here are my few observations when I was in a local van and then the Daewoo bus service a few days back. My travel was for nearly 12 to 14 km. See what was happening around me at that time. 🙂

• A guy in front of me read a text message on his cell phone, having a specific smile on his face. Having the same facial expression, he replied. You know better who could be the sender—ahem, ahem. 🙂 🙂

• A middle-aged lady handed a rough 10-rupee note to the conductor. After a long debate, Auntie won, and he had to accept it. Now, whenever they look at each other, their facial expressions are worth noticing. 😀

• The driver turned the wagon into a small street to take a shortcut and avoid the rush on the main road—but we were badly stuck in that street. Now all passengers are enjoying the selection of words by two old women while commenting on the driver’s intellectual decision. 😀

• The driver of the Daewoo set his rear-view mirror on one of the female passengers (a very common observation by many of us). I’m just loving his smile under his mustache when he looks up in the mirror at intervals of 2–3 minutes. If he tries to give the same smile to his wife at home, she will surely love him 2–3 times more—I can bet. :p

• The driver of a wagon is insisting on playing a Qawwali with full music, having melodies from every instrument, saying, “This is not a song; this is a Qawwali. We’ll have Sawab.” A hoary old fellow with a white beard on the spot declared his punishment in hell in a loud and thunderous tone. Well, I liked his on-the-spot fatwa within a few seconds. 🙂

• While the wagon is full and the conductor is still crying outside, “Please come, come, seats are available, seats are vacant,” the passengers inside are replying to him in angry tones:

  “Do you have a 4-seater sofa at the back of your van? Where the hell will you accommodate new passengers?”

  “Will you put new passengers on our heads??? Damn.”

  “Is there a TV lounge inside your van?”

  “O brother, do you have some seats on the roof of this vehicle?”

  “It’s enough; we are getting off. Return us our fare… No, no, we are going. It’s enough…”

• The conductor puts some male passengers in the front seat of the wagon, and the female ones at the back start protesting why those seats were not allocated to them. (This is really an unjust and stupid act by conductors and drivers when they allow male passengers to have the front seats.)

Well, there are many like those. Most of the time, they remain unshared, and I forget them after a few days. These were recent ones, so I thought I should share them with you.

Try this on your own. It will surely help you pass your tiring journey in a light way.

Keep smiling 🙂