31 Jalad!!!!

”Its jalad....gotta go...bye”...Im in middle of this convesation sitting at our favourite spot in the college canteen:”Okay so how do u explain threads vs LWPs? ;)”...and it suddenly changes to “oh crap...thats the last jalad....”....”rickshaw!!!..follow that bus”.....no i ain’t following some lame cute crush...its My bus 31 jalad...im rather extra possessive about it...wont let it leave without me...I have missed this bus only once...and what followed was close to a Hollywood car chase...

About a year back the long awaited ..rather long due worli bandra sealink finally opened its gates...All the while we worlites were very sceptical about the whole traffic diversion , increase in pollution levels-noise and air....worli seaface would never be the same...:(..But i was foolishly hoping that on the other side the sealink would make things nicer...like maybe have a pedestrian walk..As expected things changed... and some for good...though i dint get my pedestrian walk(how cool it would have been to walk over the Arabian sea).....i got a bus which made for better and worse ....my commutation to college and back faster.

Journey to Vileparle : 1 and a half hrs of turmoil, wait, sweat, exhaustion, ohh and sleeping. Over the 4yrs i have skipped from being a hard core railway traveller to A BEST fan!...Western railway: the most reliable mode of transport in the city....things like- when the train fast approaches the station...you feel the Mumbai heart beat..u feel connected!....the local compartment: nothing short of a daily soap and chalta phirta shop...the 100 odd steps which help maintain my figure..(which btw i hate)...all which i eventually grew nauseatic of. It turned out to be a little troublesome too..i skipped my station while still sleeping ...too often:P.Thats when i decided to skip all the switching( between a rickshaw to the station ..then the train...to a bus from the station to home)......and wait at the bus stop a nice 20 mins...to hop a bus straight to home..:D....then doze of to the most sound sleep ever....which lasted through the 1 and half hrs of bouncy roads..traffic snarls..BEST TV (“chandan pan masala...chandan!:P”expecting a comment session on this..:P)...Astonishingly I never missed my busstop...though really irritated that it interrupted my sleep.(trust me that 1 hr of sleep is the best i get...oops got....still used to speaking in present tense)But this eventually lead to neck sprains and left me completely drained...The distance got to me!

Then suddenly one fine day..my mom got me a pamphlet about this new bus over the sealink..right upto my college..Like an eager child waiting to see its new school bus...I was at the bus stop at sharp 8:30....n with this began the unpredictable waits for the bus...everyday i fought with the torturous sun...and never lost...1 hrs..2hrs...i was there to be the sole waiting passenger of my Jalad.With every addiction comes the sweet temporary pleasures...n obviously the non healthy side effects...so here it goes..


Flicker se dhapa!..:P

The PROs:
Remember the 90 mins it took me to reach college ...now it was cut down to a straight 40mins..:D.The breath of fresh air-When the bus starts crusading along the sealink...the cool air from the waters below...the spectacular cityscape... which does surprise me...the 70km/hr speed....way to much for a BEST to handle...is the best way to start or end my journey..I especially remember once when it was full moon....and as the bus started from the toll naka...all lights of the bus where turned off...the sealink sparkled with a row of fluorescent yellow lights...the water glistened with the moons reflection ...and for some minutes it was hard to believe i was still in Mumbai... No traffic signals,no horns....the same place lakhs were scrambling up locals...at its peak hours the extact same moment. Thats what the bus did...it was like ecstasy for an addict...a escape from all the hustle and chaos .I had become an addict.

The CONS:
1.Love is blind.I had given up travelling via the normal route...which meant leaving my regular 33s or 83s...atleast a dozen of them ...n wait for jalad for more than an hr.
2.Rickshaw chase after the bus...was now soo common that even my friends backed me up(“go catch a rick...u can still beat it and hop in at the next stop”)..:P...one such incident ended with me missing the bus...which left me with no choice but to amend things with an old friend..:P..as i had called it back then(i.e.catch a 83).
So 31 jalad was not just another bus...It revolutionised things...I started calling inanimate things my friends.....chasing buses...in rickshaws..not to capable of it...:P...changing everything i did according to the bus timing...from waiting in college as long as i dint miss the last bus....to spending 20 mins more in the canteen....so that i can get the next 31....walking upto mithibai ...coz the bus dint stop at my college bus stop...and paying an extra fare for the sealink privileges..


From my 2 MEGAPIXEL camera phone

So a about a week back when i had to come to college to meet my friends..:)...i was more than eager...The experience over the sealink in my favourite bus...was just as expected...spectacular...all the more in the rains...The mist covered the air....the sky over the city looked dramatic.... the thick dark clouds cast a shadow over it...the worli end of the link...was getting battered by the humongous hightide waves...its famous for...a sudden nostalgia set in...the thought of not travelling on this route for days to come...saddened me...:(...I will miss my jalad..sorely!