The nostalgia of travelling by a ST...

When I was younger (much younger than I am today!!!) my mother, sister and I used to make a lot of trips to pune. Pune was well and truly what I can call as my ‘native place’. This is because all my grandparents stay in pune and my mom, dad, my sister and myself all were born in pune. So whenever my summer vacations started it used to be like “ I am going to pune!!! Hooray!!!! They say that when you are younger, your happiness lies in smaller things…….very true!!
In those days, there used to be only two ST buses a day which travelled from vashi to pune. One used to depart in the mornings and the departure time for the other was 3.45 p.m in the evening. Asiad buses were almost non-existent (1 bus per day) and fares for asiad buses was more than the usual red coloured ST buses’ fare. So my mom used to make reservations for the 3.45 p.m red coloured ST bus (We used to call ST buses as “Laal dabaa” which means red box! It is red coloured with yellow stripes and has a box-like shape!). My sister and I used to count the hours till it was finally time to go to the ST bus stop. Once the journey started it was great fun….Never a moment of dullness….!!! The wind in my face, the rocking motion of the bus and the rattling of the metallic boards and the seats (some of the STs had seats in such deplorable condition, that I had once seen 3 seat cushions coming out of their seat frames after the bus had gone through 3 potholes in quick sucession), the typical revving of the STs powerful but noisy engine and the great outdoor scenery. Whenever the scenery got monotonous, I used to observe the passengers. Some of them used to doze off, their heads drooping sideways, backwards or forwards, some of them sleeping off with their mouths open. It was an even funnier sight to see all these sleeping passengers’ eyes going WIDE open whenever the bus’ tires hit a ditch in the road……Seeing their eyes open that way was like seeing a bulb lighting up for just a second before going off again. Then it was the ghats……the curved roads, the view of the mountains, the tunnels all were simply amazing to see. The ghats used to be the section of the mumbai pune road we used to wait for. And then it was lonavla bus stop. The ST bus used to stop there for a 15 minute break. Mom used to buy ‘batata wadas’ for us……which used to be a real treat!!! After this the journey was relatively boring till pune….we used to keep asking mom every 10 minutes or so as to how long before we reach pune. Mom used to tell us that it is very near. Finally after 4 hours of total travelling time from vashi to pune our bus would reach the pune ST stop (swargate). Grandpa would always be there to pick us up in his FIAT. Finally we were in pune and going to our grandparents house!!!
However, times change and with changing times, things change…………A new road…..the mumbai pune expressway has been made due to which maximum travelling time from vashi to pune is 2 and half hours. We have a car now…..we rarely travel by the ‘Laal dabaa’, the number of red STs commuting from vashi to pune has been increased from 2 buses a day to 1 bus every 15 minutes!!! Grandpa sold his FIAT and bought a new Wagon R!!
However some things never change…..the ST bus is still called as ‘ laal dabaa’, they still have very noisy engines and rattle hard and the last thing that will never change ever again………..IT STILL IS A BIG TREAT WHEN SOMEONE BUYS ME A ‘BATATA WADA’ !!!!!