In Chennai ...

Back in Chennai for term 2 break. Bangalore may have its climate and all that jazz but undeniable fact is that Chennai rocks. If you were to ask me for any specific reason, I would be hard put to come up with a logical answer, but the simple fact is that the place grows on you, until it becomes an integral part of you as a person. One of the charges laid against us as a city is the fact that we as a species do not bother about the plight of the person next to us. In other words the concept of Vasudevya Kutumbam is sorta given the short shrift in the roller coaster that is life in Chennai. An instance was recently brought to my notice that helps dispel this notion. A lady and her husband (both senior citizens) happened to get into a rather crowded bus. Even as the lady was trying to buy a ticket, the next stop came and a ticket checking team boarded the bus. The lady promptly told the checker that she hadnt bought the ticket. Having said that, she requested the checker to permit her to travel (after buying the ticket, of course). She reasoned with the checker that it was very difficult to buy the ticket as the travel time between 2 stops is hardly 30-45 seconds and the bus was crowded. In fact the lady in question had already passed on the fare money to one of her co passengers for buying the ticket. The checker obstinately refused to believe the lady and asked her to cough up the fine (Rs.500) or get down from the bus, accusing her of travelling without ticket right from the beginning of the bus trip.The lady's husband noticing the commotion tired to reason it out with the checker only to be rudely put down by the latter. The lady, at this point had two options. Swallow her pride and pay up or fight for what seemed to her, a very just cause. Fortunately, for us, the lady chose the second option. The moment she refused to pay, albiet in a polite manner, the checker let loose a stream of abuse. Even as the lady and her husband kept appealing to his better senses, the unrelenting checker kept up his crude verbal tirade against the couple. Now, a curious thing happened. A girl (copassenger) who had been silent till then, turned to the lady and asked her not to pay the fine. This simple act released what seemed to be a flood gate of support in the bus. Every passenger on the bus started arguing with the ticket checker about the reasonableness of the woman's stand. Seeing the obstinacy of the checker, the passengers threatened to step off from the bus en masse if the lady and her husband were made to get down.The ticket checker, clearly taken aback by the public outcry, started to reduce the fine demanded, starting from Rs. 500 to Rs.400 to Rs.200 to Rs. 100 and finally to Rs.50. With the passengers not backing down, the ticket checker threw back (literally) the original fare money that had been tendered by the lady and got down from the bus.The rest of the journey proceeded uneventfully, with the lady thanking her co passengers for their support. The public outcry in favour of the lady who was "technically" on the wrong side of law, does go a long way in showing that we chennaites do care for others, as human beings. While the ticket checker was right to ask for the fine, he could have -
1) exercised his discretion
2) asked the conductor (who was incidentally was studiously silent throughout the entire episode) if the lady had indeed got into the bus only in the previous stop
3) asked the co passenger if the fare money had indeed been handed over to him by the lady and above all else
4) been polite to a senior citizen couple
What probably galvanised the crowd was the sight of an old couple being harrangued by a boorish government servant, when they were clearly not at fault. Once again, hats off to you, Chennai. And yes, thank you ... for that old couple were my parents. It feels nice to know that there is an entire city to take care of them when I am busy mugging in Bangalore.
p.s. -
1) I continue to believe that the public transport system in Madras is very efficient and rocks. In fact my exposure to Bangalore's (non existent) public transport system has only strengthened my belief.
2) Just travelled on the TIDEL Park road. Awesome is the word!
3) I am very much against ticketless travelling.
4) Happened to travel on the bus with plastic chassis running on 47D route. It was a delight to travel in and very comfortable. Hope it is replicated in more buses.
5) This is the last blog from my trusted Dell lappie. Goodbye HAL, its been great working on you. More about it later.