Apnar pocket

 

Bus number 47A. Many Calcuttans (now Kolkatans) will be familiar with this bus that plies a long, nearly 16 km route from Dhakuria in the South to Lake Town in the North. This was my usual ride during my CA articles days when audit assignments invariably took me to the dense business districts of Dalhousie Square. During peak hours, predictably, it was packed.

                                            (representative image. Some were more rickety!)

It was during one such peak-hour journey, while returning home, that I experienced a humorous encounter. I was holding onto the grab bars overhead. The bus was at top speed, and with every lurch and turn, my body stretched for a few seconds like a dead hang, before swaying to another angle and repeating the motion. The bus halted at a stop popularly called Elgin, and only then could I maneuver to buy my ticket. It was still crowded. The conductor moved through, shouting, 'Ticket! Ticket!' and ruffling his ticket bunch with a flourish, producing that familiar whirring sound many will recall.

Amidst all this, I sensed a movement in the right pocket of my trouser. I released my right arm to feel it and realized a hand was already there! I grabbed the intruder and traced it to the guy next to me. I exclaimed in Bengali, right to his face, 'What's happening?!'

The guy calmly and almost courteously replied, 'Oh, apnar pocket!’ (Oh, it is your pocket? I am so sorry). His calm demeanour immediately set off a burst of laughter. But it was soon completed with the other passengers taking care of the situation in true Calcutta style.


Comments

  1. ChitraRamaniJune 15, 2025 at 11:00 PM

    hahahaha! I remember you telling me about this incident.

    ReplyDelete

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