Catch the Shuttle

As the shuttle breezed past City Center, I was still admiring my observation, anticipation, and sense of timing. After all, just a while ago, I had beaten 30 odd people in the race to reach office. It’s amazing how the struggle for survival assumes a new form everyday and we have no option but to take the plunge and emerge victorious.

Today when I reached my stop, Chinar Park crossing at 9:15 AM, my would-be co-passengers and competitors had already burnt a lot of skin under the sun. Thankfully, our nemesis, the traffic volunteer, was absent. His absence improved the probability of getting shuttles, but made it even more difficult to guess where the shuttles would put their brakes on.

As I saw a shuttle approaching us, I placed myself a bit away from the crowd that had already begun the chase. The shuttle moved a few spaces away from the attackers and stopped right under my nose. I timed my jump to perfection, and was bang on target. The moment did not give me the license to be as expressive as one could get after scoring a goal, but the feeling was at par.

Throughout my childhood, I have played as ‘left back’; but now in my routine life in Kolkata, every morning I have to act like the opportunistic ‘center-forward’ who is always on the prowl — looking for the right position and the right moment to launch his attack on the alluring shuttle.

For those who do not know, in Kolkata, ‘shuttle’ refers to any public vehicle that plies between a specific location and Salt Lake, SectorV — the IT hub of Kolkata. Ambassadors, SUVs and even small cars may fall under this umbrella, and only an experienced office-goer can distinguish between a ‘shuttle’ and a private car.  

‘Shuttle’ is Kolkata’s answer to Delhi and Mumbai’s carpool system. In fact, I believe that in our space-starved country, the shuttle system is a better solution because I never see a parked shuttle in our office territory.

While the ruler and the opposition fights the petrol battle,

You and I – the lesser gods – come, let’s catch the shuttle.

Shuttles have become an integral part of Kolkata’s IT industry. Due to the ever-rising petrol prices, the lack of desire to maintain status quo, and reluctance to driving, even the wannabe aristocrats in Kolkata depend on the shuttles for commuting to office everyday. This, I would say, is a healthy mindset as it takes a lot of load off the narrow roads of the congested city. However, an equally poor mindset of many of my fellow commuters is their mobile usage etiquettes, which completely mar the otherwise comfortable ride on a shuttle.

Very often, especially on my way back, I am accompanied by co-passengers who board the shuttle while talking on their mobiles and continue talking about private affairs till their destination comes. Just like these irritating chatterboxes, there are some irritating gluttons who cannot finish their stuff before boarding the shuttle.

I wonder why such people think that talking crap on phone or eating their snacks during the journey is a better ‘utilization’ of time and why they fail to understand that others may require tranquility after the rigorous working hours. I can’t fight with such people but can just hope that better sensibility prevails among these otherwise educated people.