My experience with inter-city travel by road dates back to my M Phil studies at the university in Amritsar. Almost every weekend, I would shuttle between my home town, Jalandhar and Amritsar on state roadways buses. My studies completed, but my bus journeys continued, though on a different route. Now I commuted frequently between Jalandhar and Chandigarh, where I worked. Who was bothered about the deluxe buses in those days? I would merrily hop on any ordinary, non-AC bus.
Until I got married, I had no experience of inter-city travel except by public transport. In fact, it was nearly two years into my marriage in the 1980s –when we graduated from a Lamretta scooter to a Maruti 800- that we ventured out of the city in a car. I still remember being more nervous and tense than my husband as he drove from Chandigarh to Jalandhar. At first, travelling on the highway in our own car felt more like an adventure, but gradually it became a way of life. As the personal vehicle became the preferred means of travel, bus journeys became rare – little more than memories of the past.
However, there is one bus journey from not- so- distant past that I can never forget. It was an extraordinary experience travelling by an (extra) ordinary luxury bus almost a decade ago – not as a young girl, but as a middle-aged woman.
I was traveling alone from Jalandhar to Chandigarh after Bhaiya Dooj on a Sunday afternoon. While many ordinary buses left from the bus-stand for Chandigarh at short intervals, I was determined to travel by a luxury coach. This being the Diwali weekend, there was huge rush at the bus terminal . The moment a super luxury Mercedes-Benz coach arrived, people scrambled for tickets. Desperate to reach Chandigarh in time, I joined the fray and was jubilant when I managed to get one.
My excitement vanished the moment I stepped onto the bus. Not a single seat was vacant. To my shock, no fewer than a dozen people were already standing in the aisle. Before I could grasp the situation, I saw plastic stools being placed in the passageway from one end of the bus to another. Lo and behold! Within minutes seats had been created for all the standing passengers.
Perched on a stool, precariously balancing myself on a small 12”x12”seat in a bus, I endured a three-hour bone-rattling journey on a bumpy road – at nearly three times the fare of an ordinary bus. I wasn’t the only one, though. There were a dozen other gullible passengers sharing this extraordinary experience – a ‘luxurious ride’ on a ‘Luxury Bus’, swaying on stools.
The most shocking revelation: the luxury bus belonged to a private company owned by the state’s most powerful political family then in power. For me, it was a one-off, unusual experience, but in those days, it was not uncommon for private luxury operators to squeeze in extra passengers on stools. Jai ho!
Published in Deccan Herald as a MIDDLE on 22 September 2025)
So in luxury bus luxury???Gone in oblivion due to the profit making greedy transporters and sharif passengers like you submit to them without rasing voice !!Aisi ki taisi kyoon nahin ki unki ??Tell me my dear sharif lady -Rama.
My dear Neelam ,you have a point. Corruption is there because somewhere someone is submitting to corrupt practices without raising a voice .
When you are at a weak footing , desperate to reach home and board a crowded bus , you are in for trouble.
Later , I came to know this was a regular practice. The powerful transporters were openly flouting rules.
To make hay whe sunshines is very aptly applicable to Pb Roadways PRTC and also to the private bus operators. They flees you especially during Diwali , Holy festival and when they know that the passengers now are struck and have no choice. Thanks to the liberalisation of the automobile Industry that adequate available of cars came in the market and our purchasing power enhanced that citizens started moving in personal cars. The fleecing trend by bus operators is still operational and applied on passengers with impunity. You absolutely and well timely graduated to the travel on your own car. How mundane topic may appear but it is a truthful narration of traveller’s apathies.
Narinder , I don’t think Public Transport buses fleece the passengers.. rather I feel the fares are pretty low , not even cover the cost of service. Now women are being offered free bus ride . The problem with public transport buses is overcrowding.
I hope you understand which party I am referring to . No wonder , the article , written long time back , was not accepted by newspapers of Punjab.. ultimately appears in a popular Daily from South.
Rama, when you travel in a public transport, most of the times it is a harrowing experience. In the public buses you are herded like cattle, standing close to each other, no space to breathe and the smell of sweat which is nauseating. Moreover people sitting on the roof of the bus and some unfortunate just hanging at the back of bus on the mercy of God. This happens only in India.
Dear Mrs Rahi , you have given the correct picture of public transport. I have had quite a lot of experience of travelling by public transport.
However, this was supposed to be a luxury bus run from State Bus Terminal. At that time unfortunately all the premium routes at prime time were being handled by the private transport lobby instead of Punjab Roadways buses . Rules were blatantly being flouted for the benefit of the owners , the family ruling Punjab at that time .
Ordinary bus to EXTRA ordinary bus travel was an ordeal of its kind for you . Paying extra money for luxury bus but made to sit on 12”-12” stool in an aisle. EXTRA task of balancing yourself all through the journey .
Private buses don’t give extra comfort but charge more for extra discomfort. Your article should have been published in Northern Dailies as well . Truth should be known to the public .
Dear Mrs Chopra, you have done an apt analysis – extra money for extra discomfort!
Actually, this was a normal practice in luxury buses owned by Badals ,quite understandably no newspaper wanted to carry a piece against a powerful political family. Hence , mailed the article to a Southern Daily . I am glad that finally the piece has seen the light of the day .
Rama dear you have turned the mundane experience of arduous bus journey in a luxury coach into an interesting read…..you have a typical style of adding spice to the ordinary with your magical touch…. .keep it up dear.
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Thank you so much dear Mrs Dhawan . All I can say is beauty lies in the eyes of beholder . It is your love and affection that you find my ordinary pieces worth reading. Behold to you for the encouragement.
Very interesting write up Rama. Travel in the luxury bus, I never heard that they used stools to carry extra passengers. Maybe because I never travelled on Punjab side. What an experience it must have been to balance yourself on the stool. But now the story hsmas added spice into our mundane lives.
True Alka , what happened to be an arduous journey, now looks amusing.
Even I was unaware of this practice until I experienced it . On sharing my experience with others , I came to know that the rules were blatantly flouted in those days .. no checking , no complaints as the companies running the luxury buses belonged to the powerful political family at the helm of affairs in the state at that time. .
Very funny.Stools were provided to sit in a luxurious roadways bus,owned by Punjab influential politicians.!
I also remember travelling in an overcrowded CTU buses (1980 s beginning)during my college days,where conductors were not interested in giving me tickets for which I paid money.
Interesting article ,ma’am.
I hope public transports system have improved by now.
Thanks Garima dear for reading and sharing your own experience.
I don’t know if public transport has improved as it has been long since I travelled by public transport. Yes of course , I do see CTU new smart electric buses plying on Chandigarh roads. Surprisingly ,no overcrowding I see everyone seated comfortably on the seats .
Garima , the incident that you mentioned is that of a conductor making a fast buck, pocketing the money by not issuing a ticket . However, my experience of travelling by a luxury bus is of sheer loot , a case of organised corruption and loot of gullible passengers. Companies of powerful politicians were given permit to ply on lucrative routes.
Graduating from scooter to Maruti 800…
Vah what a style as it belongs to everyone of us n getting more nervous while your husband is driving reminded of my using feet 👣at every brake although sitting besides driving wheel… Enjoyed it thouroghly….
Horrible experience of sitting on a stool in luxurious bus.. Never imagined…!!!!
Only more horrible one when in a very disciplined bus from Dera Bassi to Chandigarh… All seats occupied by fixed daily passengers… I had to get down before bus starts… For it was non stop n would not halt in between n great insult being watched by every passengers…..!!!
Only with big tears in eyes.. I shouted at God silently…. What is my fault.. I have done my every duty at home n I only want to reach my College in time…?????
Learnt peeling oranges for juice from vendors standing at bus stand… N pleasing a bus conductor by applying medicine on his finger injured in bus door… It being fastest bus from Patiala to Zirakpur..!!!!
N getting farewell cup of tea from him when I received transfer order to Mohnidra College…
Rma you created nostaligic memories..
Bus travelling is deep self introsepection…
One sits with ones emotions n it’s big catharsis..!!
Read your article in one breath.. We resonate with it.. Simple.. Fresh air.. Sweet memories… Old days… Body aches… It freshened all..
Be blessed.. 🥰
I always enjoy reading your comments, however, this takes the cake away . So many kisse of bygone days . Applying brakes while sitting in the front seat with a new driver ..it has happened with me While I was driving and my brother sitting beside me .
Di, your experience of roadways buses is much more than mine as you commuted everyday to the college . I can understand all eyes on you when you got down at your college before the designated stop .
Old memories flooding back ..
Thanks di for sharing your memories. ❤️❤️❤️