He was leaving for office. Mumbai AC buses are really comfortable and he commutes by it often these days. He was little late today and therefore walked briskly towards the bus stop. And as soon as he reached there, the bus arrived. He boarded in hurry - unaware of the fact that he was getting up in a wrong bus today.
He got inside, automated doors closed and bus left off. He saw a Lady posing with the conductor. It looked like they wanted a pic together. He stopped at conductor for ticket. But gentleman who seemed to be capturing it told him to pass by saying shooting is in progress. "Ahh...some shoot for Movie or TV going on", he thought, "Keeps happening in Mumbai".
He took a seat in the half empty bus and observed all of it keenly. It then did not appear to him as a professional shoot as the gentleman was capturing it with a mobile camera. It was fun mood, He even saw passengers participating in the proceedings.
"Are they part of the crew." he mulled over.
Person sitting beside him did not seem to be one of them. So he asked, "You have any idea what's going on here.”
"Conductor is retiring. Today is old man's last working day" - was the reply.
He got even keener. He now noticed a packet of sweet, few flowers (say it bouquet) in conductor's hand. Conductor also shook hand with other passengers. Looked like they were daily commuters of this bus. One passenger gifted conductor a mobile handset. Conductor was now blushing.
It was conductor's facilitation going on...can you imagine!
He was pleasantly surprised to be witnessing it - A celebration of life in a running public transport bus. Touching!
The conductor returned to normal duty of ticketing as good numbers of passengers were boarded by then. Conductor approached him; he respectfully asked for Airoli ticket. He was told to catch the alternate bus with options provided. Only then did he realize that he had boarded the wrong bus.
“But it was worth it.” - He mumbled to himself as he got down.
