My Commute Memoir

City has started to unlock itself from pandemic. After months of being indoors, I too decided to break free and go for a long drive. 

It was a clear sky Sunday noon. Wearing home made mask, I drove past eastern express highway while light FM music played in the car. I headed towards Powai. Near IIT gate, while waiting at signal, I saw the bus AC125 passing by. It was the same bus and same stop from where I use to commute years ago when I stayed in Powai. It recalled some fond memories. In one incident, I had witnessed remarkable farewell of a bus conductor on his last day at work. It pulled me deep into flashback and recalled my commute routine of those days. With it I remembered a girl who also commuted regularly in this bus.

It is still fresh in my memory when I first saw her. It was an usual busy Monday morning, I was waiting at this stop. Getting a seat in the bus would have been ideal for me to relax and calm myself. The bus had arrived on time and I boarded. It was getting crowded so I looked around for an empty seat. It was then I saw her sitting on a window seat in middle rows.  She wasn’t a familiar face in daily commute. She wore an admirable look with expressive eyes which you don’t mind staring. I have habit of reading faces but her expression seemed like solving a puzzle. And before I could focus further, crowd jostled in and I lost the vantage point of watching her.

Next day, I saw her in the bus again. This time, I had managed to get a seat but then she was figuring out one for her. Only reason I looked at her more than I typically would because I couldn’t unravel her expression puzzle. And as days progressed, we both became routine face to each other. Sometime we both got seats. sometimes one of us standing. And in unlucky days, we both standing, trying to secure a stable corner. About a month had passed. Similar routine followed. One Friday, when I was entering my office in Mindspace Airoli, I saw her walking past me into the adjacent office. It was then I realized that we were actually office neighbors. 

Those days summer was getting to its peak. Travelling was getting a bit taxing. In office, commute was a common discussion topic among the team. One colleague explained his experience of how he has made a group of few people who share cab and come to office together. It made perfect sense to me as people end up spending considerable time in commute. Having a company in commute helps ease travel, splits expenses, builds networking, cuts pollution - motivations could be countless.

My travel from home used to start by taking lift from my seventh floor apartment, then walking up to the street corner and taking ten-minute auto ride to catch the bus. One fine day, I was in a bit of rush while leaving for office. I waited for the lift to arrive and as I was rushing in, to my surprise, I saw her in the lift. She wore turquoise colored suit and carried her trademark expression. We both were left awed in this unexpected situation. I tried best to control my awkwardness and so would have She. But our shaky body language was making things weird. And as we stepped out of lift, we both walked in separate directions, fully aware of the fact that we are going to the same place. 

I started imagining that partnering with her could really ease my commute. How & When was the million dollar question !

Days progressed. That day, I was waiting for an auto but finding difficult to get one. This used to be a common problem convincing auto-walas for such a small distance. When I was searching for an auto, I saw her on the other corner of the street anxiously looking for an auto like me. It was getting late for me so I decided to take direct auto to my office which is easier but expensive way of reaching office. Realizing that she may be in similar situation as mine, I took this opportunity to break the ice and talk to her. So I took auto and told driver to stop near her. I looked at her and asked if she would join me.  She thought for a second and agreed. 

And then a get-to-know each other kind of conversational ride began. Her silvery voice matched her looks. Having prior acquaintance helped build conversations easily. Quite frankly, that day ride looked short due to a company. Sharing ride in auto looked like a deal for both of us especially considering the shared budget.  After we reached office, I offered her to pool together. Exchanging numbers could have looked a bit cheesy so I gave her my business card that had my mobile number. I left the decision of pooling to her as I was not aware of her preference. 

I did not hear back from her since then. Soon came famous Mumbai monsoon. It becomes a different world in rainy season and commute gets chaotic. Traveling point to point is preferred to avoid any adventure. That morning, it was pouring heavily, I was contemplating commute options to go to office. That’s when I received a WhatsApp message from her. She was checking if we can take direct auto to office together. I accepted it without any doubt and then we went to office like a breeze. 

We did few more rides together. But it seemed there was something about this situation, she was apprehensive about. How come a guy with no reference appears in her routine and things start unfolding as if it were scripted. Remember, it were those days when pooling was not a norm. It became evident one day when she had informed me that she would not join me due to some reason. But when I came down I actually saw her waiting for an Auto. My plan was to take a cab that day as I had worn suit for a client meeting. she was anxiously waiting for auto and I also saw her exchanging number with a girl who could potentially be my alternate. May be she liked the idea of pooling but wanted to exercise caution. It was quite understandable. My cab arrived, but she was still waiting. As courtesy, I thought of checking with her once. I stopped my cab near her and offered her to join me - a kind of repeat of very first ride, this time in a cab. She hopped on. But there was a bit of uneasiness in that ride and we talked very less. We both were internalizing, what just happened. For her, I guess, it was realization of the fact that we were overthinking and complicating the whole situation. As a result of this incident, a natural trust factor developed between us and we pooled pretty normally afterwards. 

Meantime, My life underwent a bit of upgrade. I purchased a car - Honda Amaze Sedan. Driving to office in car does feel special when you make an upgrade like this. Recall the moment when you got your first car and drove it to office. It was similar feeling for me. Although, There was one small problem. My driving was a bit rustic and I needed to practice before I started  driving in confidence. So I did couple of test rides over weekends followed by few cautious drives to office alone on weekdays. One day, unaware of all these, she checked if we can pool in Auto together. I responded - “Sure, in my car today !”

It was the moment of excitement for her as we drove in the car. With it, we both elevated our commute experience. It was then I realized she being in her element. She was a great storyteller when it came to narrating movie stories. I got quite a few movies completed through her in our morning rides. 

While back in office, people shared their experiences about car pooling. There was one group who celebrated their birthdays with Cakes and Samosas. That seemed like fun with some inspiration to me. 

Soon came my birthday. We were going office together in my Car. I had kept chocolates to be distributed to office on my birthday. Near a slow moving traffic, I offered her chocolates from the bunch. She was choosing from options and I tried to help her. That’s when my car bumped into another car ahead of me. There was a bit of ruckus and moments of embarrassment for me. Thankfully, there was no major damage for anyone and I got a lucky escape. Sadly, my experience of celebration while pooling did not go that well. It was something definitely not to be shared with colleagues in office !

Our discussions use to be profound when it came to the topic of marriage. It was natural because we were meeting potential partners those days. We spoke very passionately about what we felt our partner should be like. We also used to exchange our experience meeting matrimonial partners arranged by our families. It used to be a interesting discussion, which actually helped us in our decision making process. And you would not believe, it helped us so much, that very soon, one of us got married. 

Then followed a long break. Long enough for this entire setup to evaporate. All that was left was a memorable experience.

So that was my story of commute and my experiment of carpool with her.

I came into present. I now look back at it in hindsight. When I was experimenting carpool with her, few start-ups were experimenting the very same thing as a new business model of office car pooling. Very soon, car pooling app based platform became really popular among office goers. I happened to use this carpool app extensively in years that followed. 

It’s the same car that I am driving today after a long time since pandemic hit. I returned home and this nostalgia made me open my sRide carpool app. It shows that so far I have completed 1431 rides, reduced 2 ton of CO2 emission and saved 98 trees - but it didn’t mention how many wonderful stories I have experienced !

From the balcony of my high rise flat , I looked at empty highway roads which is a common sight in lockdown these days. I’m thinking when will those days come back - will it ever come back ?