Waiting for the bus.

Bus stop

People usually travel by bus for short distances.

The population of our country has risen so much that buses are always overcrowded even if they move from one place to another every five minutes.

Our school remained closed for the summer vacations last year. All of my friends started going to hill stations or other cool places with their families. My maternal aunt invited us to her place to spend the holidays with her.

On 10^th April, we packed our luggage and started for the bus station at Baramunda. By the time we got there, the bus bound for Angul had already left. Another bus from Bhubaneswar to Angul was to reach the Baramunda bus stop at 8-30 am.

But that bus was delayed. It was only after 9 am that we learnt the bus had a breakdown on the way. As there were no other buses to Angul, our anxiety grew.

Every bus stand seems like a stage where one completes his role and leaves for his destination and another joins to carry on the show. But our bus stand seemed like a stage where one completed his role and leaves for his destination and another joins very late.

It was scorching hot. Our bodies sweated all over. Even my clothes got as wet as water with the sweat. We felt very uncomfortable.

There were no trees at the bus stop. The sizzling heat of the summer sun was very painful.

Time wore on. But the bus did not arrive. It was 12 noon. The passengers went out every now and then to see if the bus was coming. I was very impatient. Some passengers returned back to their homes thinking that the bus would never come. But we had no other way out.

I felt hungry. We went to a hotel to have a meal. The nasty plates and the dirty dining tables at the hotel looked like a disaster. We came out in disgust and ate 3 sandwiches to satisfy our hunger.

At long last at about 1-30 pm, the bus arrived. We heaved a sigh of relief. There were quite a good number of passengers. The gate into the bus was jammed with passengers. With a great effort, I was pushed in and to our joy, we got a seat in a line together.