The Tiresome Transport Travesty

Did you ever travel on the roof of a bus?
Me and my friend once travelled on roof of a bus from Sirhind to Patiala.I was in MBBS final year and my friend was a demonstrator in Pharmacology.We started talking to a middle aged person travelling with us.During the conversation,he somehow inferred that we were un-employed and advised us to become ``doctors`` as he himself had become by working in a clinic for few months and learning to give intra-muscular and intra-venous injections.``There is nothing more in it``,he reassured us.We asked whether he was doing any other business at the same time,to which he answered,``haaN ji maiN panj-Chhay majjhaaN vi rakhiyaaN hoiyaaN ne,jay dactari na challay taaN bhukkha taaN nahiiN maran lagga.`` Where one would get such a sincere advice apart from a co-traveller in a public transport vehicle?

try the public transport system in lahore. daewoo buses and all...much cleaner and better than what u have described. even the small lil mini vans in lahore arent as disgustin as those u describe in pindi isloo...!

Wow! this article brings back a lot of memories.
There was srtike of Rickshaws in Lahore and me and my cousin got the pleasure of travelling in a minivan. The front seats were occupied so we had to sit in the back and our luck that we were told ``Bibi peeche wali seat par baithain`` as we had to go a long way. So while we crossed a river of legs and hands which made no attempt to give room but rather got some pleasure out of our bumping legs and hips. we were mad!!
So here we are being stared by every male in the bus and given smiles and eye invitations for God knows what , the level of anger increasing at a rapid pace. My cousin told me to calm down and we kept praying for this journey from hell to finish. Now comes our stop and we joyously get out and lo and behold our asses get checked out and pinched and my anger boils out and I lash out and hit the man with my purse.
I was wrapped in a big chaddar modestly and even then this happened. I applauded all the girls who took this abuse everyday and wondered if they got together and start retaliating would this harassment still continue?
Well that was an experience whcih was never repeated again because i didnt think that I would have come home again quietly after witnessing such a violation of my person.

woh bhi kya din thay!!!!!
I still remember a driver of Punjab Roadways who was famous for his ``big mouth``.Once,he yelled at a sardar,who was wearing a black turban with red fifti(ribbon like cloth below the turban visible on forhead) standing in fron of the bus when it was about to start,``pichhay ho ja oye,fifti kiweiN bannhi ai jiweiN kali maata neiN jeebh kadhi hundi ai``.
Once he scolded a girl sitting on the parallel seat(seat no.1)whose head was not covered with chunni,,,,``oye bibi,sir dhak lai nahiiN taaN kamm kharaab ho ju``

Both Ali and your observations and knowledge of public transport system are excellent. My last visit surprised me when I noticed fairly less visible emissions from cars, which my brother told me is due to LPG conversion because of unaffordable high petrol prices. Varan definitely is fresh breath of air. Though high fare has its impact on middle-classes but al least it prevents the joy riders of by gone era of GTS(70’s & 80’s) who were mostly ‘Nalaik’ and rowdy college students and Chotta’s. GTS gone broke long ago by rampant corruption and heavy loses. Now both Pindi and Islamabad are expanded exponentially in all direction and very known places to me has so much face change that it takes a few minutes to recognize them. In good old days due to my good sense of direction and visual memory I used to know every nick and corner of both cities.

you have just given me an oppurtunity to time travel in the past by this read. i used to live in isloo... and almost the same thingy began to happen when i got admission in nust - pindi. good ole days though, but the public transport ordeal, a step back in past reminds me that authorities needs to take this matter seriously.

i think you forgot to mention one thing in your article. the races, yep the chivalry among drivers to overtake each other and to reach the next stop to get thier hands on other passengers first. and the fights of customers with conductor and vice versa on fares. omg... that was it!

and yeah the observation about the deodorant thingy is cent percent right... they used to stink like anything.

btw it was an excellent read. two thumbs up. expecting more from you soon.

Re#8:
you might be right that increase of birthrate be cause of obstructing the charisma transportation should afford. The route you have written (pirwidhai-peshawarr morr) is definitely a worst case scenario of routing within Islamabad. Ford Wagon are not seen in Islamabad than Toyotas except for some routes like 104 number … (Melody passing through Murree Road)
Minibuses can also be seen hauling on roads within Islamabad with each stoppage time greater than the total non-stop route of the bus. There used to be Yellow Buses which got vanished in early eighties which were called [chuk chuk buses].
VARAN got a magnificent entry other than any means of transportation in the history of Islamabad and Rawalpindi probably because of government level interference of Retd. General Hameed Gul and his fine Bussiness oriented Daughter who are only able to launch a clean bus intervention dealing of uniformed conductors and professional drivers like in daewoo bus services. But the fares are amazingly high thereafter.

The pathetic route of (pirwidhai-peshawarr morr) remindes me the other day I saw a wagon crossing golra morr with written “Ali Trust”—“Free Transport” on it. Upon inquiring I found out that it is financially carried out by a wealthy person in Islamabad and this wagon routing from :Koh-e-Noor mills, Golra morr to Peshawar Morr freely carries people to their destination in between. The state of that scene was very high spirited for me as people were settled mannerly and there was sense of liking and contenment though all of them can be ranked belonging to lower middle class labors of Pakistan and their kids going to schools with ease.

Re: # 5 It seems things have not changed since I left in late 80’s. I am sure it is more chaotic now due to urbanization and record 3%+ birth rate. In those days mostly Ford wagons, mini buses and Suzuki vans were cruising all over the place, dominating the transportation landscape. The worst of all routes were Pirwadhi-Peshwar_morr & Banni-Peshwar_morr. I hated mini buses because of their low ceiling, honking, waiting endlessly on each stop and emitting clouds of black toxic diesel smoke. The worst of all routes were Pirwadhai-Peshwar_morr & Bani-Peshwar_morr because of poor roads, traffic jams and some very un-civilized passengers.

Ali as you said:

``...The music that blared through the cheap speakers was even cheesier than what some of my half-wit friends listened to...``

Well,
Your statement that cheesy music played in wagons is cheap and the people who listen to it have ‘half-wit’. Well what I have observed in my traveling is that the music played mostly depends upon the driver’s background who likes to listen local songs of his language might be Punjabi, Pothowri, Pashto which are definitely crude in sense of tunings but effusive in terms of “Dehatipun” engrossed in them. Similarly your statement makes such a sense that a person can be timed a full-witted if his wallet allows to buy the latest DVDs from Radio City or Bambino and know all the Bands, Singers existing in America, Europe and Africa not even knowing that sweet Shazia Manzoor has won a award in BBC voice of the year. It is not witty to know American Idol and don’t know that Spiderman theme song is sung by Pakistani band. And sometimes the music played does divert your attention from pathetic situation you are going in.
I hope the message is conveyed as what impression I got from this proclamation.

Public Transportation headache in Islamabad-Rawalpindi is such a dipression that my mom bought a taveez of ``Dua-e-Noor`` which is said to be a guarrantee that person doesn`t get killed in Accident, which offcourse i didn`t wore around my neck but she always ensured it in my bag in the morning before i was leaving, and afterwards a special light paper embroided dua-e-noor was enclosed in a colorful silver capsule called as Gani which seldom i wore while travelling.

Once my dad rushed to emergency in nearby Poly Clinic when he heard that a terrible accident has taken place in 21 number and front seat has badly crushed.

So this transport doesn`t effects the traveller but the whole asscciations.

The internal schematics of public transportation in Islamabad are wretched. Both in paths and state of wagons and sitting conditions especially for females. Speaking of metropolitan state of transportation [rwp-isb-connected suburbs] is not less good. I had been ordeal of famous 21 [ikiis number] route of pathetic yellow wan during my graduation years [4] which originates from Secretariat in Islamabad and ends beyond Rawat . That pathetic little yellow wagon doesn’t adopt the pathetic Murree Road {which is another empathy of traveling} but as said in conductor language goes ‘Bar-o-Bar’ [externaly] stopping at major sadakside village chowks of Khanna Pul, Airport Chowk, Jhanda Chichi crossing outskirts of Scheme 3 and then crossing Kachehri leaving Ayub Park, famous Al-Shifa Hospital ..It’s used to be a half journey to Lahore one-sided and my first ventures in public transport. Though 105 number, 104 number are no better but VARAN (bus) had an dynamic effect by coming on time and not stopping at stops for long but still it’s a very much torture to sit diagonally in women seats of Varan which are also as limited and stop with such a Jhatka like Train stops when pressure is released that I had always fallen when coming out of bus and have never detain the pressure. Bahut Lambi Dastan hai even my classmates having cars used to ‘Bayan’.

Transport is absurd, pathetic especially for female in all nick and corners of Islamabad.

nice - brings back fond memories ......... but it is surprising that anyone living in bani gala where land goes for more than $100,000 a kanal (500 ysq ds) would use public transport ..........how come ?

......... and do you know that bani gala was supposed to be part of the national park before you-know-who moved in and destroyed rawal lake and the surrounding area ?

gives me pangs of nostalgia!
i miss khi buses now...they were fun!

Sometimes when we were out of cash and had to go just 2-3 stops ahead, we would pretend like we accidently took the wrong bus route and assured the `conductor` that we would get off the next stop; and we always did get off the next stop seemingly cursing ourselves on riding the wrong bus.

nice article.. don`t you have trains or buses in islamabad / rawalpindi for city transport??.. I`ve experienced all kinds of transport , trains / buses / vans.. Trains are the best.. you would not wish the crowded bus journeys even to your enemies.. The worst part is (sometimes the bus conductor would stop the bus for ticketing everyone before the bus reaches the next stop just not to allow anyone from travelling without a ticket even to the next stop.... :-))..

wonderful experiences... you`ll relish those for a long time..

I have been dreaming of traveling all over karachi in a pak version of a `Qing Qi` the brilliantly decorated contraptions that prowl the streets of pakistan.A few bottles of scotch, a bucket of tandoori chicken and off i will go.I guess i`ll have to make do about the alcohol.But, it`s ok.Indian autorickshaws are getting too hi-tech.They even have reverse gears now.Takes half the joy out of traveling.In the old days we would have been asked to get out and push.The New Delhi govt. is moving to ban autorickshaws within city limits and license Maruti vans instead.Bummer.India is moving fast into the 21st century.