Handkerchief Reservation!..

Waiting for a bus on the way back home at 4:15pm everyday is a tiresome routine. But

Bangalore’s atmosphere even at a local bus stand is magnetic. The freshly brewed filter

coffee shops makes you sleepwalk during the day. The wait becomes even more worthwhile

with the rush of the school kids. Their laughter, loud chit-chats, playing pranks on their mates

and helping us remember our good old school days. Everyday while sipping my favourite

coffee I am immersed in the school kids little world of ignorance or (let me rather say,

“happiness”). They all would be so much into their world that they wouldn’t even bother the

buses stopping by. In that very small world I found a little boy all of probably seven years old

whose innocence touched me within. This little fellow’s Grandmother used to pick him up after

school. The bus during this time would be jam packed with the school kids, hence the little kid

and his Granny used to stand squeezed in in the bus, though they would get down after four

stops still it seemed uneasy for them. The reason why the kid and his Granny were denied

seats everyday was because most of the other elder boys would reserve the seats by placing

their school bags or handkerchiefs on the seats through the window and then climb in with a

devilish grin. Somehow this little kid picked the trick from his seniors and finally decided to

reserve a seat for his Granny, but his height denied his wishes. Perseverant, he asked a

gentleman who was about to board the bus to help him reserve a seat. And, the human

obliged. That day I saw his Granny taking the seat like a queen with her prized possession

sitting on her lap.