The Soulful Atom

I never really cursed bus drivers for the way they driver those almost monstrous vehicles, but today i have understood and feel everyone should appreciate how the amount of patience that they have!! I doubt it is a very simple task to handle a vehicle that huge, with the responsibility of approximately 50 human beings (many times exceeding the capacity and un-balancing the vehicle), negotiating through the heavy traffic at peak hours..
So today there was this junction where i was waiting for the vehicles coming from the right side to cross the junction so we could then cross it to the other side.. It was going smoothly until a guy on a ratty old bike in a fluorescent green shirt decided to intersect a bus (which was almost speeding up) and then he swears at the bus driver!!!! I felt like cursing the guy back and almost everyone on the road did. But the bus driver merely looked on, no reaction nothing, and went off! I know we tend to say that they are used to it. But we never think- what do we do when people do something of that sort with us in other situations??

Maybe something at work or at home? When someone shouts back at you for no fault of yours? Many times we tend to be aggressive even when the fault is ours, then how can this driver be so calm? They have so my pressure. It is not in the least easy to manage a vehicle as PMT buses or any vehicle as large as that.. Adding to it a lot of other important things which these people have to keep in mind and be alert about. Now, don't these people have a family? wouldn't they be having these things on the back of their mind? And then wouldn't they take out their frustration on such people who meddle like imbeciles? I think it is pretty fair thinking from a neutral perspective perhaps. Why can't these bike riders be a bit more sensible? And if they can't be then it is very natural to be crushed for their senselessness.. Wouldn't it have been easy for that bus driver to say that the guy just pop in out of nowhere and that the bus was in speed and hence couldn't be stopped immediately? Anyway the buses aren't in top condition. The brakes take forever to work. But still these bus drivers try to maintain their cool, and try to save these good for nothing fools. Had i been in their place i would surely have crushed the hell out of that guy.

We need to be just a bit more vigilant. I know its a bit rich coming from someone who has met with so many accidents in a very short span of time.. But this is what i've learnt! I'm not saying that the bus drivers are always correct.. But we need to understand that they are not always wrong, and we should try and understand where they are coming from instead of blaming them for every accident that happens..

So here is a few words of appreciation for them. Hats off!! :) Guess should write something that will actually reach them! :) Suggestions?