It was a usual Pune-Mumbai rush. Where me and my parents succeeded in getting front row seats in Neeta Volvo. People kept on pouring in intervals and occupying there seats. With the usual drama of same seats being allocated to many. The travelers blamed cleaner and the cleaner blamed the tour operators and the tour operators blamed the weekend rush. Finally everybody was accommodated, the bus started two hours late.
The crowd was usual, a few software engineers, with their laptop bag, a few good-to-do families, and a bunch of students. But still there was a mild bickering at the back, where some travelers had to shift to the rear of bus as others claimed there seats. The bus moved on, an reached a halt to pick up some more travelers. But something else was waiting for us.
We reached at the halt a good two hours late. There were people standing there for two different buses, the one that started earlier then us and our bus. And more people were still pouring in. A guy and his friend got adamant that they will either go in our bus or we all will have to wait for the next bus. They were passengers from the previous bus. Others who were standing for the same bus also got adamant and got into the bus, travelers in the bus were sitting quietly and watching, occasionally asking the cleaner and driver why there was further delay and when the bus was going to move.
Both the guys finally managed to secure a seat for them in bus. The spirit of others outside the bus were lifted and they followed there example to get accommodated by standing in bus and not allowing it to move. By this time people already in bus were done with polite requests. And had started shouting. Few more minutes gone, the shouting turned into swearing. Some of the people who had got into bus went out seeing the angry outburst. But there was this lone guy and possibly his wife who refused to budge. Seeing that he had no intentions of getting out, some travelers reached him and gave him their piece of mind. Soon it turned into swearing again. A guy asked him-Did I say a work to you till now but to hold the bus for 2 hrs is not done you !@$@##$!!! Another older gentleman and his old lady took the liberty of pushing him. The driver was asked to start the bus with these guys. My dad also joined in and started shouting in spite of my telling him not to. All the educated people soon turned into a crowd and then mob. With people shouting from behind hit him! hit him! and those in front pushed the guy out of the moving bus. It was a scary scene to watch. The transformation of sane people into a mindless mob nearly trying to kill a guy and a girl. In all the shouting I tried to plead to the guy and his wife or whatever to get down else the mob will kill you. But well they both were in some other state of mind, probably on an ego trip by now.
Thankfully after the guy was nearly pushed out onto a moving vehicle outside, the girl got back to her senses and managed to get him out of the bus. The mob gradually turned into people and settled into there seats, calling up there relatives, chatting and laughing over the incident.
The two guys who had managed to secure there seats never came out in the entire journey, nor when the other poor guy was getting abused for trying to imitate them. And the best part this all was happening next to a huge police station.
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