Surviving the back seat in a BMTC bus....

I have a suggestion for the Indian Army. As a part of the army training, they should make BMTC last seat travel along Ring Road through JP Nagar a mandatory exercise for all soldiers. This would further help to toughen our jawans and put them in a much better position while handling border infiltration.

While I have a tremendous respect for the kind of connectivity provided by BMTC, the BMTC buses (excluding the Volvos of course) do not seem to have any shock absorbers beyond the back wheels. The shock absorbing system ends right there. As a result, if you are standing or sitting beyond this point, you are on your own. I also believe that I ought to be charged lesser for having to sit in the last seat.

In case the bus approaches a pot hole or a crater, the jerk caused by this is more than enough to snap your spinal cord. And this is quite painful. What’s even more painful is when the bus approaches a speed breaker. At first, you will fly. And I am not joking here. Do not be surprised to find yourselves airborne for a good 2-3 seconds. You can see your life flash before you in this time and this time is also good enough for you to beg forgiveness for all the wrongs and the sins you have committed. Because, following this flight, you will crash land or nose dive back into your seat. And this crash landing is almost fatal. Notice that I say almost fatal. Clearly, I made it though the journey. Others weren’t as lucky. In order to experience the best of the back seat journeys, I strongly recommend the 500 series of bus routes. For a preview, the 60 series should do the job. An advantage of using the number 500 bus is that it takes you through parts of Bangalore which you didn’t know existed.