Best trip so far

Last week I was in Delhi, my hometown. And I think, in the last one year, this was my best trip. Although at some points in time, I was sad or not-so-happy, but I think those moments were few and far between.

Some of the dates worth special mentioning are 24th June and 26th June. Obviously, the time you spend with special people has to be special. However, as they say, "Gods must be crazy". Something had to play spoilsport. It happened in a DTC (Delhi Transport Corporation) bus. I was travelling in a bus plying on route number 901 when around 7 people got into the bus from Azadpur bus stop. It seemed to me that they were from two different but related families and they seemed to be from normal middle or lower-middle class. The male who looked most responsible bought the tickets for all 7 which means he spent around 50 bucks.
Before the bus had started moving, one of the girls (looked to be around 16 years old) in the family started feeling dizzy. So the male, who was also her father, got down from the bus along with her and helped her to drink some water. But that didn't help much. She was feeling no better. By this time, some people had started getting restless because the bus hadn't moved an inch in the last 10 minutes and some of them started shouting at the driver asking him to leave the families at Azadpur only. That was when, within myself, I started cursing the dilli ki junta for being so unhelpful. Ahh, but to my pleasure some people intervened and in a raised voice, said Unke 50 rupaye barbad ho jayenge (They will lose their 50 rupees if you leave them here). So it was decided to wait for the girl a little more.
Anyway, after a few moments, the girl was told to get back into the bus and was given a seat next to the window, in the rear half of the bus, so that she feels better (everyone thought it was the effect of heat) and things seemed to have settled down. But worse was still to come. And it came just when I wanted it least.
As I was waiting near the front gate of the bus to get down at Kingsway Camp, I heard the girl cry out loudly. I turned around, uncomfortably, and saw the whole crowd again staring at the girl.
Girl: Papa, papa.... papa (Dad, dad... dad)
Dad: Haan... Kya hai? Kya baat hai, bol (Angrily he replied, Yes? What's the problem?) At that moment I thought at least he should have replied properly in a polite manner. After all, she was his own daughter who needed his love and support the most then.
Girl: Papa, mummy... Mummy kahan hain? (Anxiously speaking, she asked "Where's mom?")
Then came the voice of a female.
Female: Kya hua... Yahin to hoon. (The female was sounding worried and said, What is the problem, dear? I am here right besides you.) It turned out that this female was the girl's mother and was sitting right next to her.

That is when I had to get down from the bus so I could not hear or see anything more regarding that incident. The girl, it seems to me, was suffering from a mental disorder or had some psychological problem. But whatever it was, I was a witness to it and it wasn't a good sight. It spoiled my mood. Thought about it till I reached my home and even after that. Something about it hurt me so badly that I kept thinking about it and till late night I could not even pack my bags to come back to Kanpur. Just got out of that in time to pack my bags, reach the station in time and catch the train but as you can see, I am still not completely out of it. Still remember each word distinctly... My week long journey that began happily ended on a really sad note. Still thinking how her dad would have reacted to what she said that I heard last.

I don't know whether I should be saying this. Gods may or may not be crazy, but they are really cruel at times.

By the way, the trip was the reason why I could not blog for so many days. No broadband internet connection at home and to add to my woes, my hard disk crashed :-(