A LITERACY DRIVE

A literacy drive:

Madam Swapna preferred to go by a Hop Stop town bus to her residence at Patia rather than a noisy and vibrating auto rickshaw. She was accompanied by three school children who missed their bus.

All four of them walked to a nearby bus stop. It was crowded over there too. They slowly edged towards the front of the long queue. Swapna felt it quite tiresome to wait for the bus in that salutary afternoon, that too with hyperactive kids, gleefully enjoying this welcome exit from the dull confines of the class. Yes, they were enjoying their time outside the school, hardly bothered about the hot and humid air. Their faces were happy and they looked as if they were up for some mischief, with sweat trickling down their faces.

After a long time, the bus came and there was a slight scuffle to get inside, with everybody abandoning the discipline of the queue. Somehow Swapna teacher and the kids managed to get aboard, past the push and shove at the entrance.

The seats were all occupied and several passengers were already standing inside the bus. Somehow or other, Swapna forced her way towards the front, and asked two young boys to vacate the seats marked for ladies .All four of them could adjust in that seat with the youngest one ,her son, Spandan sitting on her lap.

 could force her way and asked two young boys to vacate the seats for her and the children .All four of them could adjust in that seat with the youngest one Spandan sitting on her lap.

 Spandan, the ever curious kid was peeping out of the window. He used to look for familiar sign boards and big advertisement hoardings that he remembered on this route. After a while he turned his attention to have a look around, inside the bus. After looking at the writings inside the bus in front, he asked ‘Maa, what does this ‘Fast adds’ mean after looking at the writings in side the bus in front, asked “Maa, what does this ‘Fast adds’ mean?”

 She kept quite as if she has not heard him. Then after a while she replied, “This is a spelling mistake, you stupid, it should have been written First aid”.

‘What does that box contain?’

“It is supposed to carry emergency medicine, but in practice, it carries possibly a dirty bandage, an empty, Dettol bottle, a screw driver, old music cassettes and few fused bulbs,” was her answer.

After some time Bapun, another kid, exclaimed, “Madam, see this one!”                                                                

Swapna was already annoyed, with the humidity heat and the rattling noise of the bus. Why these buses should make so much of noise, she wondered. She was already trying her best to keep her furious temper under control, and then came this sight of another spelling blunder, ‘Handicrabs’ was written in red paint, at the back of the next seat, and the word brought forth a wry smile on her face. “Yes, this too is wrongly written. It should have been ‘handicapped’, meaning the seat is for the handicapped persons.”

The young girl Munmun, not to be left behind, yelled this time, “This, to our right, is a better one Madam—‘Lodies’!”Then, with an all knowing smile, she giggled. The teacher left it at that.

The headmistress asked the conductor while paying the fare, “Who has written all these?”

 “A Painter madam, he is my nephew.”

“That’s alright but the spelling is mixed up everywhere!”

“He is a graduate Madam, now he is doing the job of a painter.”

 At the next stop two eunuchs forced their way in, which made the already irate headmistress to vacate the seats meant for ‘Lodies’ off mood headmistress to vacate the seats meant for “Lodis”.

Swapna had enough of the glimpses of the ‘literacy drive’ in the city bus and the social changes of the city. She could bear no more and would get down at the next stop.

Spandan said with a broad smile “Maa, Maa, now I know who are called ‘Lodies’.”

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