The Bus Driver

Length of blog: 1600 words.
Genre: Educational

*NOTE: NO PHOTOS ARE PRESENT IN THIS BLOG; ALL PICTURES ARE ADVERTISEMENTS. EXCEPT, THE ABOVE PHOTO

Sean was the burly kind. He always had a dream of driving a 16 wheeler truck, but just like any average middle class person, he wasn’t able to afford one. To fulfill his dream he purchased a small tempo on monthly installments – one day he would build on this, and achieve his goal of owning his own 16-wheeler. He couldn’t give up his day job as he had to pay the EMIs, and on his week offs he did try driving and learning his new vehicle. He realized that as he was not a permanent driver he was referred less for business offers.

A month into driving he did not have to consciously remember the three paddles at his legs. Leftwards like how the Urdu alphabet is written, but in English - A-B-C; Accelerator, Brake and Clutch. Clutch paddle being used most often, while the other leg alternating between A and B, because no one would want to break and accelerate at the same time. Slowly but steadily his confidence grew on his driving skills, but his business opportunities did not.

To avoid the crowded buses which could not handle the load of the rush hour, Sean sometimes drove to work in his tempo. Then it hit him; he added benches at the back of his tempo so as to accommodate eight people. And now he had a self-driving vehicle – at least monetary wise – the thankful passengers kept his gas tank full. He too felt he was doing a good deed for his city folk. Especially the ones who travelled far off like him across the hills which separated his work from home. He sometimes did two trips to rope in more profits.

 One such evening he turned his tempo towards home the second time. It was nearing midnight by the time he had freshened up and started back for home. And he guessed correctly that he would not get any passengers at this hour. He took the home bound journey alone. Halfway home, in slow moving traffic caused by the 16-wheeler trucks climbing the hill, his vehicle shutdown. He had lost focus and pressed the accelerator a little too late which led his vehicle to come to an abrupt halt. He turned the key in the ignition but alas it was dead. He turned on the parking blinkers, so that the vehicles behind him who too were in slow motion knew he had car trouble. His battery had dimmed out. A few blaring horns and the traffic behind him started diverting – some left, some right. A trailer driver did not realize Sean’s predicament and came too close to Sean’s tempo’s bumper and couldn’t veer left nor right causing more confusion and agony to the highway truckers. A few cars passed by, but no one helped Sean, some glared at him – one even asked him for a match box to light his cigarette, but before Sean could search it in his glove compartment and give it to him, the rest of the vehicles coaxed the cigarette wielding driver to move on with their incessant horns. He looked up and down the dimly lit road packed with vehicles – was there a breakdown van nearby. He looked at his gear box, he usually got out of this situation by giving the car a push. A push-to-start is when the vehicle is put in gear and when the pushed-vehicle reaches a certain speed you release the clutch and accelerate a little bit and the engine would catch on.

             “That’s what the clutch paddle does, it helps the engine to release and clutch the gear shaft”, Sean could remember his driving teacher’s voice in his head.

But here Sean found himself on an upward slope and no one to help him to push his car, no passengers too. He pulled on the handbrake so that he could free his legs off the ‘B’ for brake. He got out of his tempo and ran towards the trailer near the tail-end of his tempo. The trailer driver was making actions towards Sean and his mouth moved too, but all was lost in the din of the traffic and the various moving headlights. Sean tried to explain his difficulty to the driver who was not interested, but already ready to reverse. Sean saw the cleaner of vehicle jump out from the door on the other side. Sean ran to the other side of the vehicle to catch the cleaner-guy and ask him for his help to push the tempo. He too paid no heed and ran to the back of his trailer to aid his driver-master in reversing their huge vehicle.

Sean re-entered his tempo and solemnly saw the vehicles split behind him, glare at him questioningly, and pass by. He wondered if rolling backwards and making a U-turn and then letting his tempo roll head-on towards oncoming traffic would be wise. A concrete divider restricted him from going to the other side of the road. He phoned his mechanic.

                “Will my tempo gear-start in reverse?” Sean said. “My car battery died”

                “Yes, of course”, the mechanic replied, “Why what happened?”

                “I am on the second hill home, on the upwards slope and trailers all around me”, Sean shouted over the sound of the traffic

                “Yes it will, but do be careful when you apply the accelerator in reverse, the vehicle may lunge backwards – the reverse gear being the most powerful gear – be very subtle”, the mechanic said.

 Sean was delighted that all hope was not lost. Just a few minutes ago, before he had called his mechanic, Sean had seen himself spending the rest of the night right there until help arrived in the form of cops or a breakdown van. He had made peace with his situation and had smiled to himself on how he could blast music and have a small meal – beers included – in the middle of traffic and no one would or could do anything about it. He had corrected himself, they could help but who would risk their lives. Many a driver would have faced this problem themselves and would empathize with him but that did not warrant what worked for them would work for him. He had even contemplated calling his insurance company at the risk of a huge fee.

But now Sean had a plan, he got out of his tempo. He wanted a car’s length of distance between the tail-end of his tempo and the next car behind him, then he could try his reverse-gear-rolling-backwards-downhill-gear-start. But in this dark shifting traffic how would he get the space? The lane to his tempo’s right was lined with trailer’s, about half a car’s distance behind him vehicles veered left slowly to avoid his breakdown lights. He waited – a car went left and behind it was the state transport owned bus. He ran towards the left–veering bus driver with his hand raised - palm facing the bus driver - then ran towards his own tempo. He knew the driver would oblige in spite of the innumerable things that would go on in any driver’s head. But this was a bus driver, just like he was - a tempo driver with benches.

Without looking back Sean could feel the bus driver’s actions. Firstly the bus driver would wonder what the issue was. Why would someone run towards his bus in the middle of tedious traffic? The bus driver would then peer from the height of his seat over the tempo to look out for an accident, “Or was it the tempo that had caused an accident?”

               “Were there people who needed to be transferred into the bus?”

               "Was there a landslide or had the road caved in?"

                “Was this a hold-up?” Sean’s mind raced at the many reasons on why any driver would not wait.

 Yes, this bus driver was with whom Sean felt a knowing fellowship - he too drove people from point A to point B - Sean saw in his rear-view mirror that the bus driver had veered left and halted to block off a chunk of traffic. This was it. Sean released the handbrake. His tempo started to roll backwards down the slope. The gear set in reverse, he waited for the gear shaft  to gain speed and then he would have to release the clutch. He took his leg off the clutch paddle in one motion.
           
            "Not in a gradual fashion", he reminded himself. Sean was talking to himself aloud to focus.

The gear shaft locked onto the engine shaft and with a jerk the engine grunted. He then simultaneously pressed the brake and the accelerator to invigorate and ascertain the engine wouldn’t die on him yet remain where he was - there, he had used the break and accelerator together. The engine roared to life. Sean then pulled the handbrake to steady his nerves. Sean looked out front and saw he had reversed almost to the end of the angled bus and was inches from the trailers on the right. He could feel the eyes of a few passengers see his antics in the dark interiors of the bus.

Sean gave a thumbs up to the bus driver and continued forward his journey home. Oh yes! The reliable bus drivers!

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