Suhaana safar

My daily travel to and fro university and home is by a very beautiful, clean, safe, spacious, reliable, punctual, perfect and THE best BSAG (Bremen Straßenbahn AG) bus service. (Bremen lo bus lu chala punctual, fast mastaaru...time ayithe chalu ekke daaka kooda aagavu type :)). I spend around 20 mins everyday morning and evening in these excellently engineered picture perfect public service angels (I live in automobiles paradise called germany but ikkada car driving license chala expensive suma....prapanchamloo ekkada undavu intha viddooramayina fees lu).

I have been travelling in these services for the last 4 years so much so that I remember almost all the stops of all the lines...timetables of atleast 10 lines I travelled very extensively while living in different areas of the city....know the connecting lines byheart from many of the stops..hehhehe I also have a favourite seat for which I eagerly look and wish to be empty when I get into the bus or tram. Enough of introduction and advertisement to BSAG, my topic here is not that..

Everyday I get into the bus with my ipod plugged into my ears with my favourite collection queued up and I sit in my favourite seat if its free or an another window seat where I can be in my own world. Then with the songs in the background I switch in to my favourite past time, ......WATCHING PEOPLE :)...I love it!!! may it be just out of interest in observing different people, different dressing styles or in general just for time pass.

Variety of people travel with me everyday.....beautifully dressed sweet grandmas and grandpas going to the hospital or to the park, kids going to the schools, employees of the supermarkets, banks, university, young mothers with the baby prams going either to the kindergarten or to the hospital or just to stroll in the park nearby, and majority of the people are students from the nearby hostel as the bus goes to the university. Most of the co-passengers are the same and now I recognise them very well as we all take the same bus everyday (I mean sametime)...I know where they get in...which stop they get down...what they normally do during the journey...who they talk with...if they get in with partners or alone...do they have glasses....the jackets they normally wear, the bags they carry, the caps they wear, their music players etc etc :D:D:D. Different kind of activities are performed by different people.

Old people usually sit staring out of the window and concentrating on the passing stops, and if they have a company most of the time they are chatting rather complaining about their pets (cats or dogs....naaku chaala rojulaki kaani ardham kaaledu iddaru bammalu valla pillala (grand children) gurinchi kaadu pillula (cats) gurinchi maatladukuntunnarani).....Employees normally read news papers or novels, supermarket employees often start giving touch ups to their makeup....young mothers usually chat with their fellow mothers or just concentrate and forget the world watching the kid in the pram (they are the most adorable and the cutest of the passengers)...school kids are usually in groups so they are always blabbering on all random out of the blue topics which no one can understand or follow......then comes the students some read novels, some read text books, some keep correcting documents, some will be preparing for a presentation or an exam....some chat with their friends about any random issue, courses..exams...lectures...discotheks...pubs....movies..football...tv any thing...and majority of them have their music players hanging and plugged in their ears...

Among all these regular normal people, my special interest and attention is towards a class of people called Dreamers....their number is very low...atmost 5 or 6 among some 30-50 travelling at a time..these people just sit silently most of the times hugging their bags, or hand under chin and keep staring....no where...their eyes may be pointed out of the window or just inside the bus but their look is not there.....they are looking in to the infinity....deep in thoughts.... somewhere beyond this physical world, may be they are peeping into their own brains digging some past incidents or dreaming about something they wish to happen....the expression on their faces is mostly blank and puzzled....

very seldom some of them break down, eyes filled with water and tears rolling on the cheeks and they make a vain effort to control them..lest noticed by others....I feel so sad for them...(paapam entoo kashtam)...feel like going and hugging them, asking them whats wrong, hearing their problem and do something to make their heart feel light...these people stay in my memory for long time even though one of us get down the bus...

There are other kind of dreamers, the other side of the coin...the real dreamers....most of the time they behave as if they are all alone and all the others are just invisible..they nod their head a lot, blink a lot, scratch their nose a lot, adjust their hair a lot...their eyes always seem to say something, as if holding a very sweet thought, their lips tightly sealed or pressed under the teeth clearly controlling the bursting out laughter, a sweet naughty hesitant smile escaping the pressure once in a while, a hearty laugh coming out sometimes forgetting the surroundings....these people drag my attention a lot and I try to figure out whats going on inside them...did they find love, had nice moments with their partner, did someone praise their beauty, did they just win some lottery, are they gonna start a new job that day, did they finish their assignment....what is it??? or is it just that they had nice coffee in the morning...saw a funny poster on the way....remembered some scene from a movie they watched y´day.....some news they read in the morning....was appreciated at work...what is it???

whatever it may be I dont like to disturb them...I have no feeling to go and ask them...I am happy just watching them.....their smile brings an instant smile on my face too, looking at them makes me happy, thinking that they are having a beautiful thought in their brain makes me feel light, I forget all my issues for a while and all the surroundings start seeming beautiful and I carry this for long though I dont remember the person.....for the next few hours I am happy....hmmm...Life is Beautiful for atleast one in this big world....

"Zindagiii kaisi hai paheliii haiii

Kabhi to hasaayee

Kabhi ye rulayeee

Zindagiii"

Instances and observations like this often make me think who am I in this big world inhabited by some millions of unknown strange people where everyone has their own life, their own issues....Hmmm I hope all of us have such kind of moments atleast once in life :):):)....anyways wish everyone to BE HAPPY and HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!