I dream….

All of us dream something or the other, here is one such dream. A nano dream of a little Indian girl. No…I dream not like Nehru –the midnight dream, I dream not like Dr.Kalam of development and growth….I am just an ordinary gal dreaming for her country the ordinary dream. One of my unfulfilled Indian dream is traveling in a empty (with place to sit ) Air conditioned bus, sitting on a seat not hay stacked over metal wishing I travel again but that would be an utopian fantasy so lemme go on…I wish… there be a time when I would be waiting at a public bus stand with routes mentioned on a board, at least that the posters covering them over still steal a glance at the routes I want(selfish me!).I wish they go all out of the way to make the busses stop at the bus stop, at least somewhere near it. I wish…. people queue in to get into the bus….at least don’t pull me down when I’m trying to get into one. I wish our people learnt to care for others, the old, the young, the weak hearted(like me)….at least not stamp over me when I fall on the road while climbing into a bus, okie…forget that, at least SEE what they are stepping on—a living thing, one that’s extra-sensitive and would probably thank them for not spitting on her instead of on the road on which she fell down. I wish I would once in a while be allowed to get into the bus….I have never quite seen the inside of a bus in months, standing near the footboard and on lucky days being permitted to stand somewhere near the conductor’s seat. I wish…women wouldn’t get harassed while traveling in public transport, at least other women or the victim herself raise their voice against it.I wish…people don’t get adapted to harassment so as to say…”it happens” ,nope it shouldn’t be happening! I wish…there were a concerned lot who would offer seat for the old, pregnant and sick, at least don’t push them through every time they climb in and out.I wish…little boys stopped thinking its fun to cling unto window grills(they later grow to be the impressing romeos) and stopped jumping down a running bus—true it’s Indian style to adapt to over-crowded busses and saving time getting down where you want. In fact there are many wise souls who justify this as efficiency increase—decreasing waiting time, increasing freight and even in the worst case decreasing population. On the other hand it would do good to develop some patience and take calculative risks. I wish…school gals learnt to flatten me up instead of my toes,that ache and smell after being autographed by their shoes. I wish….schools considered the space school bags alone occupy in public busses!!!I wish…then men learn to hold while satnding in the bus(wish they had been taught the law of inertia at school) and not fall right over the pretty female scarred to death already. I wish one wouldn’t be given vitriolic speeches for not carrying the right change. I wish…busses would no longer be the school to learn the perfect swearing words. For aeons people have been justifying this humility called traveling by public transport with a number of reasons—the cheap cost, country’s population and worse a mention of the starving million who wouldn’t even dream of traveling in such a bus(sure they are sensible).Infrastructure investment especially in public transport would go a looong way in feeding the starving millions and meanwhile some of us can live with grace and peace of mind. You can say it’s a small wish but in it lies a HUGE change! Developing a little common sense, a little care for other beings, learning to be polite, making the right decisions, being a bit more responsible and far more making yourselves proud of your country and its transport. Well….its just a wish, at least I wish director Shankar considers me for his next project. whatdya say?