Story

One of my best and oldest friends, Ranj, called me up the other day.

She's in Calcutta now, and it's her first time in the city. One day, she was encouraged to try out her newly-found independence, and what better way is there to test it than to go and check out the Calcutta sights by herself. She bought herself a ticket for a city tour, and got into one of the tour buses.

The tour bus was full and she found herself sitting next to a lady. But being tired from the day before, she fell asleep before the bus could even exit from the parking lot. She woke up after some time and she found the bus heading towards a village area.

'Must be going to a temple on the city outskirts,' she thought to herself.

The lady next to her, having found some company, started talking to Ranj about herself and so on...

Time passed by and Ranj asked her, 'So where exactly are we going?' The lady was puzzled. She asked her, 'Don't you know where this bus is headed to?' 'Umm, yeah it's a city tour. So I was thinking a temple or some other landmark?' Ranj let her know quite mildly.

'City tour?? We're heading for the Sundarbans* !! We'll reach there tomorrow!' the lady exclaimed.

'OMG, I got into the wrong bus!!' Ranj said and she quickly made her way to the front of the bus where the conductor stood.

Once having explained the situation, driver hit the brakes. Then the conductor and the driver launched into a huge argument about whose fault it was that Ranj got into the wrong bus.

Finally, the conductor turned towards Ranj and remarked 'It's your fault!!'

'Well DUH... Isn't it obvious?', Ranj thought while she tried to stifle her laughter.

Eventually the bus driver let her out, giving her directions on how to get back to the city ('I had to take a run-down government bus! There was no other means of transport', she let me know on the phone).

What we, for the life of us, couldn't figure out is how Ranj, having her ticket worth all of Rs 200, could get into a bus for passengers who spent Rs 2000 each... accident or not. That's India, or rather Calcutta, for you.

But it was one funny story, and I laughed for a long time even after we hung up the phone. :)

* For Dawn. The Sundarbans is a thick forest on the deltas of West Bengal. It's mostly known for its lush beauty and its tigers. :)