A Bus Ride to the Town to buy the English Medium Books!

The school was in a village and the books of the English medium especially the Text Books were available only in Trichur Town, if at all they were available.  So I decided to make an adventure to go to the Town by myself, even though I had not done so earlier. 

I was sure I can make it, as I had accompanied others to the town, on one or two occasions.  I had made by-heart, the route of those trips.    First I had to take the red bus called Sreeramachandra and get down at the black, long and huge round pipes.  When I reach the pipes I have to see the King on the other side.  I have to get down here near the King and walk straight.  On the walk I should see the Government Hospital on the left and straight up should enter the High Road where the Road is very narrow.  Both sides of the road are shops of various everyday requirements and a furlong afterwards passing the Chackolas' Silk House and the Anju Vilakku (The five lamps) and the Tharaku (The vegetable wholesale market) comes the H&C Stores.  That was the only Stores who cared to bring all sorts of books to cater the needs of those used to engage themselves in all kinds of studies.  Before reaching the H&C Stores on the left hand side is the imposing huge St. Mary's New Church which does not have to be seen as it is not exactly on the High Road.  There is a small road turning left taking one to the New Church.  In that travel plan I was to go very straight so that I can reach the shop, get my books and straight get back so that I may not get lost.

So I decided to take the adventure and submitted the matter, for money for the purchase and permission, to travel to my mother.  She in turn took advise from my father who said "No harm in the lad travelling. Let him learn travelling.  Give him the money".   Next advice was from my sister.  She asked me "Have you not seen the King's Statue? Get down there and walk straight up till the shop and walk straight back once you have the books.  Come the place you got down.  That is where the bus will start its return trip. That is it. You got it?"  I readily got it!  I said happily "Yes, I got it."  The King's Statue, straight up, and the Book Shop.  Have the books and return straight back. Reach the place I got down.  The bus will come there!

English, Science and Social Studies are the three text books I needed.  With the money given to me by my mother I was ready to move.  When I was ready, my mother consoled me. "There is nothing to worry or be upset.  It will all go very well. Just don't go here and there and don't go if anybody calls you here and there.  If anybody tries to trouble you beyond your control shout, somebody or the other, will extend help.  So be brave and go"  I kept those advice in my heart for life and walked to the bus stop to catch the great red bus called Sreeramachandra which used to pass the turn joining the tarred road.  

The road was tarred only after two furlongs where our little mud road joined the main gravel road.  But we liked to call it the tarred road because that is the only road having tar on one side.  The place where I stood for the bus is a joining of three road.  There was an 'athani' on one side and the athani was used by those carrying heavy head loads to push the load on to the great stone bar kept on two pedestals so that they can relax a bit.  Some words were written on the huge stone to say that it was erected by some great guy to help those under heavy burden.  Some date in Malayalam old characters were also carved on it.  The area joining the three roads had a small tea shop and on the side of the tea shop was a huge Madras Eentha which had fruits on it which fell down from time to time.  It was such a huge tree, its spread shaded the whole area as a great canopy.  The bus passed under it.

At the joining area, I waited for the bus.  There were people in groups carrying toddy, fish, milk and curd etc. on 'kavus'  (bambu shoulderbars) The kavs will have two baskets or coir nets on both sides and these will carry all the materials in earthen vessels likes kodams or huge 'bambu thottis'  which will all be covered with bambu nets or pala kumbils (funnel shaped palas-which are the aricanut leaf stalks).  These gentlemen usually did not wear any shirt or such stuff, but only a half dothi very sharply done up at their waists and they walked with a special gait unceasingly.  Few of them used a stick in one hand to support them.  At times a group also moved with a call by one of the group saying 'elo...elo.......elo...elo'  It had a rythm and the group moved long distances and reached their destinations at their appointed times.

After a few such groups moved, there was a  whirr and  pull sound of the Sreeramachandra.  I was excited and thrilled.  I held the two 'anas' (anas were prevalent at that time) for the bus fare, in my hand and waited.  The bus pulled up and stopped as I showed my hand to stop the bus.  That was how bus was stopped in those days.  Whenever one needed to get  in, one stood on the side of the road and extended the left hand so as to obstruct the bus from passing further.  The driver can see this from a distance and stopped the bus at the closest to the passenger.  There were not busstops as we see now, and buses stopped to any one who wanted to board and showed a hand!

Once the bus stopped, the cleaner man swung down and asked me to get in through the back door.Only men were allowed to get in by the back door.  When I call or say, back door,  this has no bad connotation.  I only mean, the door at the back end of the bus.  There usually were  two doors on the left side, one at the front for women and children and the cleaner man always hung to a bar at the door to see the incoming passengers and also as a cover for the women and children who entered from that door.   At the back side, there was no such need, as the grown up men were supposed to save themselves and avoid accidents.  I was happy to have been asked to get in through the back door.  I am treated as a grown up.  I held on the bar and entered the bus climbing the two steps and went and sat on a side-seat above the back wheel over which was the wheel cover  where I could put my feet at a raised platform and look out!  The cleaner man at the front door made a long whistle and the bus whirred and started moving!

It was a hilarious trip.  The conductor came and asked where I was going to which I said Thrissur.  'Two anas'.  I gave the two anas  to him.  He put it in his leather bag which he was wearing in his shoulder like a cross belt and moved on.  He also had a wistle in silver colour which I liked.  We played with such a whistle at times.  But our whistle was smaller and the sound was very shrill.as it was made of tin instead of silver.  We used to have those whistles from the Perunal shops.

Perunal is the feast of a Chrfistian saint or some thing attributed to Jesus Christ himself.  Church only conducted the usual mass or puja and other light celebrations like a procession with the saints statue accompanied in the front and back with coloured ornamental umbrellas and having a team of drummers (chenda vadyam) and the one team with the Kombu (a long curved horn made of bronze or so).  There may also be a team of the new era band with polished brass bugles, clarinest, new drums of different sizes etc.  The mostly played tunes resembling prayer songs attributed to the saints or at times simply film song tunes.  We as children were thrilled at the shows but our minds always lurked with the thoughts of the small guddie guddie shops which will spring up all around the church before and after the Perunnal.  These shop keepers brought all types of things which we could dream of.  They were dream sellers.  Then, there were the fruit and sweet sellers in which the orange sellers really made it.  Any body worth his salt bought a few organges as these were not bought on usual days.  Unless for the perunal, it was never a house hold item.  Same was the case with the Karimbu (huge cane stems) sold in plenty at the perunal.  There were two types of karimbus.  One gtreen in colour and the other the blue coloured selam karimbu named after the famous place of its cultivation.  The blue karimbus were costly as they had more sweetness and juice.  Among them were a number of shops selling all kinds of plastic and other toys which had the whistles as one of the attractions, and this was at times in our affordable reach if any of our  elders had given us some money to put as offering in the church.

If you agree not to tell any one I shall tell you a secret!  Whenever we were given any small amount to put as an offering in the church, we pocketed it and never put it in the offering box if it can be helped.  If it was absolutely necessary, we short put the amount and kept the rest to buy a whistle or a  baloon whistle.  This was a sin, and something very wrong to do, but since we had not started the confession of sins to a father and receiving the 'Holy communion' we thought the saint may, perhaps, not mind these little beings having a whistle, which made such a nice shrill sound or a baloon or a baloon whistle or any other goodie-goodie.  If we purchased any sweets or oranges, we took it home for all to share.  

The moved at a set rythm and passed several compounds and houses on either side of the road and gave side to a single or double bullock cart.  Sometimes the driver called to the Cart driver if he was known to him.  On the way it stopped at the Police station.  The conductor ran out to the station went in for a few seconds and ran back and gave a long whistle from his silver whistle and the bus moved again.  Later I found out the whistle was not actually silver, but made of brass and coated outside only with chromium.  

The driver had an assistant boy to hold the gear shifting lever as it sometimes collapsed to the floor!  The held it on most diligently but at times his attention did not hold and the lever fell down to the floor at which the driver scolded him profusely.  But it never made difference to the boy and he simply picked it up and lifted it so tht the driver can shift the gear.When he shifted the gear the bus made huge noises from below, but since the driver was unmoved by any of those sounds, the travellers were also unmoved.  When the bus started to reach near the town, the houses started to become bigger and at places groups of shops appeared and there were also petrol bunks at places.  The colour of the road changed from black to white.  This was the asphalt road we were told which was made before independence.  After a while the big big pepul  tree appeared and we were in the swaraj round which is Trichur town.  The bus circled the huge ground with a large temple in the centre.  This is the Poorapparambu also called Thekkinkadu Maidan.  

And now the Kings statue appeared in black colour on a huge pedestal and the large black tubes on the right.  The conductor made a long whistle, the bus stopped and the conductor announced 'ellavarum erangikko'  - all .get down and with this he left the bus with the cleaner boy and the gear lever holder walking in front of him and the driver following him.  I was the last one to leave the bus.  In fact I did not want to leave, but since everybody had left and the bus was totally empty, there was no point in sitting in it anymore.  I got down.  Once outside, I pushed my hands and stretched my legs to the new fresh air of the morning town.  

I looked at the King from his side.  His was an embossing huge statue in black  bronze with all his ornamental dress.  He had a huge face with a large nose and piercing eyes.  If one kept on looking at the statue, one will feel the king is coming alive.  It was a great sight.  Since I was alone I kept on looking at him for a while.  How would he have ruled his State?  He, was, as far as I know the King of Cochin, the Ruler of the erstwhile State of Cochin-Travancore.  

Now I turned around and looked at the other side to see the huge black tubes or pipes.  They seemed to be for making water tunnels somewhere.   Behind the tubes were some very huge water tanks with domed heads on concrete legs,  that too three or four of them.  From a distance it seemed as if they were people engrossed in thought and in a meeting!Now since the location I have got correct I turned to my left to hurry to the High Road and further to the Book Shop.  I reached the shop without much difficult, all the while looking at the shops on either side.  As I was new to the place alone, I was curious about the shops.   Those who knew the place never looked at any of the shops but only saw their destination, like the long route Bus drivers.

The shop was busy with so many people in front of it for the new books for the new academic year which was already begun.  I had some difficulty to get the attention of one of the shop assistants.  Once I got his attention, I informed him of my requirement of the Class V English Medium book.  He said, after a little thought by scratching his head, that the books had not come except for the English Text Book.  I got it, paid for it and returned.

It was a brand new book in rose coloured cover and smelled great as all new good books.  I covered it with an old news paper and hurried back to the place near the King, so that I can catch the 'Sreeramachandra' on its return trip! 

This was my first trip on my own by bus.  I had at times got a few trips along with the elders.  At times, my second elder brother  got me a dummy trip with his clout and bravado in a running bus which appeased me initially but made me consternate when I knew the trick.  He knew the conductor and driver of the bus and will go to the bus as if we are going to travel and climb the bus and speak to the Conductor and at times the driver and when the bus is about to leave, he will get down.  The old bus that it was, always kept on started and was never put off until it rested at night.  The reason for this is, if it is put off, it used to take a lot of effort to get it started again and at times sending in a handle from the front and turning vigorously by another person when the driver will keep pulling the wires and pushing the pedals.  This went on until the whole bus shivered, threw thick smoke from the exhaust and whirred into life, when the handle turner would run and put the handle in the bus and heave a sigh of relief.   The handle turner will be the least paid of employees of the bus and is considered to be a learner or student.  The driver can abuse him if he so desired generally with reason.  At other times they used to be great company and in a few years he will meta-morph into another ustad driver (Master Driver).  


I waited for sometime and the bus came and stopped near me, near the King's Statue.  Of course near the black grill covering the little park with its statue and its pedestal.  Once the bus stopped I got in and settled in one of the side seats this time more comfortably as I was by now one bus trip old and knew the way of the bus ride almost!  But once I was in, I found all the operators are out.  This was for their usual refreshments only and for a few minutes by which time the bus got filled up by various passengers and luggage.  There was a howler youth outside, who kept on shouting gosthayi, kuriachira, chiyaram, anjeri, kambani padi, ollur, marathakkara, thrikkur etc. in a very fast pace and repeated it often times until the Driver Conductor Cleaner triisome came back. e not only howled aloud, he also showed signs to prospective commuters and at times very jovially coaxed them to make a trip in his great bus.  He was a bit dark in colour, a charming youth in impeccable white dress with a small hand-kerchief tied in style round his neck!  He made a great job of it, oh..he really did!  I wished if I could howl like that and call people to the bus.   But I did not have a bus.  Afterwards when the Trisome returned he came to the conductor and said that his job is done and had made a bus full of passengers and extended his hand in which the Conductor put some money and said the bus is not as full as you are saying.  The howler youth again very jovially retorted that he could not get the evening travellers for the morning trip at which everybody laughed.  The bus started moving.

I had a free sight seeing trip back home.  All kinds of buildings, shops, odd sights like the slaughter house, the 'thotis'  (those who carry human excreta were in those days called 'thotis' and their lives very doomed) carrying human faeces in huge wheel drums (I was seeing this for the first time in my life! and was surprised!). 

Many people climbed the bus with small house hold lugggages bought from the Town market, and at times one or two odd people had huge bundles which were packed at the back side or behind the Driver apart from the regular luggage put or packed on the top of the bus, mainly of agricultural produce and stationery materials. The bus moved, sdtopped and moved to the whistle of the Conductor.  At times, the Conductor especially if he is near the front gate did not blow the whistle, but made a sound "weisss..." to which the Driver behaved as if he had heard the whistle.  Much afterwards, I deciphered this sound to mean 'Please' and it was the short form for 'Stop Please'.  In the southern part of India, most of the usages will have short forms which we need not necessarily fully know, but the ones using it will use it with much alacrity, so as not to disturb the customers.


At many places I found the board ''Kallu"  painted in huge white letters on pitch dark or thick black boards.  Kallu is the local palm excretion an intoxicating drink which grown up men of matter had in the evenings after work  and pestered their women folk at home.

Near the Police Station the bus stopped, the Conductor made his customary up and down run and the drill told me my stop is near by.  I came near the door where the Conductor was standing and motioned him to stop.  I wished him to say "weiss..."  but this time he took out his silver whistle and blew it a long whistle and the bus stopped under the Madras eentha tree where I got down.

Yes. I have done it!  I now know how to travel by bus, and if need be, alone.  I walked home my chest full and the new ghee smelling book in my hand and presented it to my mother who looked at me as if I had done something great!  She said hilariously: "I knew you can do it, now you can done it"  Show it to father and sister when they come!  And thus started my bus travel and it thrilled me every time!

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