The wheels on the bus

I really love riding the bus here, for some reason. I shouldn't, because overall it's not the most pleasant experience in the world, but there's just something about it that makes me really happy. There seem to be several breeds of buses here, four of which I take to dance class every day (the Dhakuria minibus, 37A, 5, or E-1: there are dozens of routes, though, and though buses come constantly it can sometimes take as long as 20 minutes before the right one comes). There are mini-buses, which are brown and tiny, regular buses, which are blue and yellow and bigger, and then the ugly buses, which are, well, ugly. I can say that these buses are decorated with paint, have the names of the destinations written on them, are old, bare-bones, rickety, etc., but it doesn't really do them justice. I'll just have to wait until my camera gets here (if...). Other fun details of transportation: it costs around 5 rupees for a 20-ish minute ride on the bus (that's around 10 cents, by the way): there are two types of men who work on the buses, one kind who hang out at the entrances and shout a list of the names of the places on the routes ("dhakuriagolparkbhavanipurrashbiharihowrahparkstreet" etc.) so that the people waiting for the bus know where it goes, and another who take the money: they carry leather pouches with change and have dozens of ten-rupees notes folded between their fingers, and you tell them your destination and where you're coming from (for me it's usually "Bhavanipur, Gol Park theke"), and they give you change and a little paper slip with the fare written on it. You have to get their attention before your stop comes up, which is sometimes hard when you're in a rib-crushingly crowded bus. Usually it's okay, though, and women get first priority for the seats in the front, which is wonderful. There are bars everywhere to hang onto, which is necessary when standing up. Today I took a double-decker bus, which was kind of scary (it looked like it would fall apart any second, but then they all do...), and it took turns really fast, such that a woman actually fell out of her seat into the aisle... she was okay, though, thank goodness.
Buses aren't the only mode of transportation, either: there are auto-rickshaws, which are basically covered motorcycles with seats in the back, people-rickshaws, which I never take, and taxis, which have padded ceilings and little technicolor plastic statues of gods with flashing lights on the dashboards: you also have to pay double what's on the meter, for some unknown reason. And then there's good old walking, always a good option...