Walking from the house to the bus stop is a joy. But will take more time. One has to by pass the wet little by lanes which are slippery in the rain of June. The side houses on either side of the by lanes are small but beautiful. But not spacious as all small houses. Once the main tarred road is sighted the attack of dust clouds raised by the passing trucks and cars will cover the walking folk. If it is raining, it will be red mud which will be the threat. This is not for no reason. We have a pipe line which has been put after cutting out the good road well spread with good black bitumen. Once the pipe line is put in place no body usually cares to re-do the tarring. It will take some time to do it with all the procedures and permissions completed.
The bus stop is a small covered and concretised structure with a cement bench. For the elderly it is a solace as one would definitely like to sit away from the traffic moving so fast, rubbing the sides of the road users. The bus comes in great speed and screeches to a halt to pick me up and the conductor gives his customary "Weisse..." which means 'Right'. As soon as I put hold on the handle bar of the gate the bus starts to move and by the time I get into a seat the bus has picked up speed. Now in the seat the sight is really soothing and enjoyable. Any one travelling in Thrissur know that. Either side of the road is good houses with greeneries and greeneries all over.
The road is good at places, bad at places, but all along is narrow. So the driver has to be good at his art of swinging and swerving, turning and cutting etc. Out right, he has to use his unofficial air horn to frighten away the small vehicles coming in front of him. It is not that he has to scare away all, most of them are dead scared and give way as soon as the bus is sighted in the rear view mirror, but there are some who come from outside and some youngsters who are new drivers ..! They do not know the set up going on and fall prey to the driver's horn. Once in a while there would be such a vehicle. The buses are always on their fittest as they have to pull fast to overtake and manovure at small spaces.
All along, a cool breeze passing through make one feel the joy of a bus ride as the poor driver takes away the pain of driving and the riders are left at peace to sight seeing or day dreaming all through. People get in and get out, both men and women, many a time carrying little children. The conductor see to it that people get in without any hurt and once settled, approaches and collects his fare. There are two pieces of beautiful green field roads, one at Kanjany and another at Chettupuzha. Once the famous Chettupuzha is over the next suburb of Thrissur town city is there called Olari which is adorned by the famous St. Therese church and a famous temple nearby. Both are great in their own ways and are a joy to see on each trip. First come the church of Little Therese of Lieux and then comes the temple. The Chettupuzha has a little river in it which has dwindled with time but was a deep canal earlier in the times past. Once upon a time there was a serious accident in that river when it was in spate in the Onam festival time, in which a number of Onam clelebrants and a good number of the other travellers in the bus had to lose their lives. It was told that the driver of the bus was a good natured fellow and the owners of the bus specially treated him with a great Onam meal, which is customary. As ill luck would have it, at that particular time, near the river the bus lost its brake and that was it! The bus full of passengers plunged into the river in spate and many could not swim into safety. The one single story apart there never had been any ill incidents or accidents on that road.
After Olari, the traffic will steadily increase and the ride willstill be enjoyable, but a tard slower. Once can see around the beautiful houses and Government offices of Hospitals around, most of them very old or be in their own world either listening to music which many of drivers would play in their good music boxes for the benefit of the travellers, but not in all buses. By now, in my trip, we got a good rain and all had to put down their shutters. This is most uninteresting time inside the bus. The passing air will stop and one can't see much to the outside. At times the customers will lose their designated or intended stops also. Within this confusion we approached the 'West Fort' which is a bus stop only. There was a Fort on the West side of the city at one time, but till date I have not seen that Fort. Now have to search for it. By now the sides of the road is full of all sorts of shops and businesses of the city town of Thrissur and the bus crawls with traffic to approach the famous 'Vadakkumnathan Temple'which is in the centre of the Town Thrissur! I disembark and my ride is over.
The bus stop is a small covered and concretised structure with a cement bench. For the elderly it is a solace as one would definitely like to sit away from the traffic moving so fast, rubbing the sides of the road users. The bus comes in great speed and screeches to a halt to pick me up and the conductor gives his customary "Weisse..." which means 'Right'. As soon as I put hold on the handle bar of the gate the bus starts to move and by the time I get into a seat the bus has picked up speed. Now in the seat the sight is really soothing and enjoyable. Any one travelling in Thrissur know that. Either side of the road is good houses with greeneries and greeneries all over.
The road is good at places, bad at places, but all along is narrow. So the driver has to be good at his art of swinging and swerving, turning and cutting etc. Out right, he has to use his unofficial air horn to frighten away the small vehicles coming in front of him. It is not that he has to scare away all, most of them are dead scared and give way as soon as the bus is sighted in the rear view mirror, but there are some who come from outside and some youngsters who are new drivers ..! They do not know the set up going on and fall prey to the driver's horn. Once in a while there would be such a vehicle. The buses are always on their fittest as they have to pull fast to overtake and manovure at small spaces.
All along, a cool breeze passing through make one feel the joy of a bus ride as the poor driver takes away the pain of driving and the riders are left at peace to sight seeing or day dreaming all through. People get in and get out, both men and women, many a time carrying little children. The conductor see to it that people get in without any hurt and once settled, approaches and collects his fare. There are two pieces of beautiful green field roads, one at Kanjany and another at Chettupuzha. Once the famous Chettupuzha is over the next suburb of Thrissur town city is there called Olari which is adorned by the famous St. Therese church and a famous temple nearby. Both are great in their own ways and are a joy to see on each trip. First come the church of Little Therese of Lieux and then comes the temple. The Chettupuzha has a little river in it which has dwindled with time but was a deep canal earlier in the times past. Once upon a time there was a serious accident in that river when it was in spate in the Onam festival time, in which a number of Onam clelebrants and a good number of the other travellers in the bus had to lose their lives. It was told that the driver of the bus was a good natured fellow and the owners of the bus specially treated him with a great Onam meal, which is customary. As ill luck would have it, at that particular time, near the river the bus lost its brake and that was it! The bus full of passengers plunged into the river in spate and many could not swim into safety. The one single story apart there never had been any ill incidents or accidents on that road.
After Olari, the traffic will steadily increase and the ride willstill be enjoyable, but a tard slower. Once can see around the beautiful houses and Government offices of Hospitals around, most of them very old or be in their own world either listening to music which many of drivers would play in their good music boxes for the benefit of the travellers, but not in all buses. By now, in my trip, we got a good rain and all had to put down their shutters. This is most uninteresting time inside the bus. The passing air will stop and one can't see much to the outside. At times the customers will lose their designated or intended stops also. Within this confusion we approached the 'West Fort' which is a bus stop only. There was a Fort on the West side of the city at one time, but till date I have not seen that Fort. Now have to search for it. By now the sides of the road is full of all sorts of shops and businesses of the city town of Thrissur and the bus crawls with traffic to approach the famous 'Vadakkumnathan Temple'which is in the centre of the Town Thrissur! I disembark and my ride is over.
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