A red bus used to go by the road from where my school bus would pick me up. Initially I used to see it only in the mornings while going to school, but after a few days I noticed that the bus would arrive at that same spot in the afternoon also.
The bus was a shiny bus and it was small in size. Everyday,it would snare my attention and I would plead with ma to let me look at it for some more time as it would stop there for at least ten minutes. It was a bus of dreams and as a kid I would imagine playing with that bus and driving it.
Then suddenly from one morning it stopped coming. At first I didn’t make much of it, as I knew buses would go for repair and the maintenance would take a few days.But when it didn’t appear even after three to four days, I started feeling sad and missing it.
Slowly, slowly, a month passed and it went out of my mind and then I stopped missing it.
One morning, my school bus didn’t come and as it was late for more than ten minutes, my mom and dad were contemplating about what to do and how to send me to school.
Dad said that he would drop me personally to school. As mom and dad were going forth on about what to do, we heard a horn.
We turned back to see who was honking so loudly and what do I see? It was that same shiny red bus and the bus conductor who was assigned by my school for my route, had stepped out of the bus and was asking me to get on it. Dad went and spoke with him and he asked him about the bus change.The bus conductor showed him a bus identification paper which was issued by the school for the bus.Dad checked the paper and only then did he let me get on the bus. I was over the moon and over that the bus was air conditioned.I was jumping with happiness. The bus started for school and the whole journey was a smooth ride. After getting down from the bus, I waved bye to the bus and went to my class and in the afternoon too that same red bus dropped me, where ma was waiting for me.For the next four months, that bus used to pick me up and drop me from school.
You won’t believe the extent till which I liked that bus.The best thing about it was that it was always shining and one day ma and baba, bought me a toy bus that looked exactly like that red bus and it was shiny, red in colour and it’s doors would open and the steering would go sideways. Every evening I would play with it on the verandah and then keep it back carefully on the shelf.
That red bus itself and my toy red bus were one of the best gifts of my life.
Before You Travel. 