The Race on Spit-field road.

Horrible Pune Station Road?

Everyone who has been to Pune knows that stretch of road from Sasoon Hospital,via Pune Station Bus stand, passes in front of Pune Station (His Highness Aga Khan Road,if anyone knows it by that name) and ends up before Alankar Theatre.

Apart from the perpetual road-jams that belong to this stretch, the only reason Joshua detested this road was the part of it near the Station bus stand-
It could be renamed Pune Spittoon Road. Spit-field Road maybe.
The purpose of this road, it would seem,was to receive spit and phlegm until Kingdom come. Never mind the buses,they can skid on the spit, nah?

It was a minefield out there. Joshua always had to walk VERY carefully to avoid all the spots or gashes on the road. There used to be days when he had to run just like the villain in Terminator 2 on that road (Remember the scene when Arnold drives the car with the Connor kid in the back, and the bad guy runs with that Cyborg-like steadfastness and determination behind the car for quite some time? Yeah.).

And when Joshua had to run like that behind the Vishrantwadi bus.. never mind the minefields.Its just infection and muck. Yuck.

He was standing there one night, praying to God for the Swargate-Alandi bus to appear. And he knew what he was praying for.

He wouldn't get a seat. For sure.
He would have to stay squeezed for some time,once inside the bus and do the ballerina thing to avoid being stamped for the rest of the time. For sure.
He would also reach Wadi,real fast and real cheap. For Sure.
For Sure.
Of course, IF he could GET a foothold on that bus,all this would come into the realm of possibilities.
But Joshua had never missed a Swargate-Alandi Bus. It would somehow take him along.
IF he missed it, the next one would be quite an eternity away.

Tired of looking down that road,he did a ballerina-thing to avoid the spit.. he ignored the stupid behemoth-like Wadi-bound buses lying behind him. They would not even scratch themselves for the next 15 minutes,let alone move.

He looked on, hoping to spot the distinct Swargate-Alandi bus. He could read the board on the bus from far,sometimes. A couple of years of running around in Pune had hard-wired into him that gut-feeling,call it intuition. He knew it when the Swarg..

Oh Crap, here it was! The bus glided out of nowhere,bright lights and all! Joshua was just pulling his bag up a bit more securely when he saw the murderous rush at the rear door of the bus.
It was just like a swarm of bees that had found the last flower before the impending famine. And this swarm of madmen would stamp you to chutney. And if you didn't stay clear, that odd suitcase,or that sack full of metal things,or that IRON-box(^%#%&#) on their shoulders would turn your head into pulp and you into Jason Bourne.

Joshua had opted long back to just go home,so he skipped out of the way of the swarm,never mind the spit-minefield.

The bus was here. And Joshua could not even get within 2 metres of the door.
It looked like all these henchmen were trying to avoid Joshua. Did he have the plague or something?

No. NO trying the front door,are you mad? Better stand in front of a multi-barrel machine-gun. The Driver would stop the bus and chase to death anyone who tried to enter through the front door. That's the exit you see.

By this time,half the swarm was in, and Joshua could not find a single foothold. He TRIED to think of toe-hold on the foot-board,it was pointless..he would lose half his precious teeth in 30 seconds.

Joshua could not believe it. The swarm was hogging the foot-board and the bus was moving on without him on it. WAT the.. Joshua thought as he started jogging behind the bus. His mind was on fire..
" I cant miss THIS bus. THAT'S not happened. EVER!! What will i do now..it's so late!"

The bus was gone. Joshua had lost. Unbelievable. Joshua stopped trying to run. The bus had picked speed and had proceeded to climb the ascent to the circle near Station. It was over. The Behemoths behind were smiling in wait.

Joshua was a believer in Jesus Christ,so his mind turned to Him - "HOW DID THIS Happen??".
He was talking almost as if Jesus was driving the bus he missed.
Joshua was furious and who else to pour out your wrath on to?
("What.. i prayed so much..! i thought You would help me out today.. You can't do that Lord? AM STUCK HERE..My folks will be angry if they know am late LORD..what the heck is this??")
His mind was already jumping options, from auto to shared-auto, to Stupid Wadi buses in-wait to next Alandi bus (" that will be Too late! ") and his eyes still looking at the bus 40-odd metres away..


Oh, the bus had stopped at the circle. Traffic snarl.
Oh,it's just a spit-field.

Joshua would have always agreed that running to the middle of a Pune Road to board a bus was very stupid,very risky. And he knew if he thought a bit rationally,this he would not do. And he didn't give his mind a chance to think. So he ran.
Joshua was not the physical-stamina kind of guy,but he was never in this mess before either.

And Joshua,ran only to win. He could not take failure. That was hard-wired into him a decade back maybe. The bus was some 30 metres away.

Joshua ran up the ascending road. Freak, the bus had started moving now!
("Oh,LORD Noo.. pleaaase help me")
He ran right across the circle,vehicles coming in from 3 directions,crossed the road and was some 10 metres behind the bus.
It had picked up speed again.

("LORD,if i miss this, YOU will be ashamed! Look at me! I would be in no condition to walk back to the bus-stand,LORD.. PLEASE.. STOP the Bus!!")

The bus was growling along on the road to Alankar Theatre. Joshua was huffing,and running. The Swarm hanging onto the foot board was watching. They must have shouted something,all of it missed Joshua's ears.
" There goes the villain from Terminator2 ",some fellow could have shouted for some inspiration.

If the bus reached the curve before the theatre, Joshua would simply have No chance. It's there that these things accelerate like crazy.

The bus slowed down and picked up speed at least 5-6 times on that road.
And Joshua's hopes were dashed and pulled up that many times. And this was His Highness Aga Khan Road, so Joshua was busy dodging Autos,people,jerks,other kinds of humanity,a wall,cars,bikes,suitcases and similar stuff.

The furious talk in his head with God didn't stop all this time.
("I will stop now! You have let me down. This was sad! I cant Breathe!")

("I will hitch-hike instead. I WONT go back to wait for another STUPID BUS,Lord!!")

( "Yess.. RUN Man.. God will help me out! ")

And suddenly,to Joshua's horror, the bus had reach the curve before the theatre.
It slowed a bit, (once again the hope-dashing thing happened to him) and then the freaky driver stepped on it. The bus swerved ahead and Joshua's insides screamed silently.
( "NOO Lord.. pleeeaase no..")

He was angry,spent,frustrated,sinking in despair,terribly at a loss as to..








The bus had stopped.
Must have been some stupid pedestrian who had crossed the road suddenly.


Joshua ran like a one-man swarm, bag flailing,lungs working overtime(!), eyes and mouth wide-open. The bus started moving again,very slowly. And this time Joshua was shouting on his inside,
("LORD, i will get it! YES LORD, i will get THAT bus..")

As he reached the foot board, he wasn't his usual polite self. As he reached the bus, he was ready to give heck to the henchmen. And as he looked on,it was awesome. There was no more swarm. The bees had moved inside. Foot board was clear to go.

He jumped on,caught the rod at the door,got the ordained metal bit of foot-board and he stayed there.
("Lord,I CANT Believe it!! Thank you LORD, THANK you LORD!! Oh yesss..")
Conductor and swarm must have said something,he didn't catch any of it.
He was doubled up on the foot-board,learning to breathe at that place,in that way for the first time.
The wind was waving in and out of him and Joshua was still trying hard to breathe.

He didn't want to sit.
He didn't want to stand.
He just wanted to breathe it all away.

His God had given him the foot board.