Bus Trip from Chennai to Bangalore

Bangalore is not too far from Chennai. A little more than 200 kms and hardly 7 hrs by bus. With most of my friends based out of the city, it was logical I head out there for a 5 day break. I was visiting a friend in Indian Institue of Science (IISc). IISc is one of the premier institutes of higher education in the country, located in the beautiful city of Bangalore, and I was looking forward to my stay in a college campus after almost 6 years.

Now, I am not much into planning. I had run into issues the last time I attempted the trip. So, after some admonishing from my friend, I went ahead and made advance reservation for the 11:00 pm bus. The bus was starting from CMBT bus station which is located in Koyambedu. Residing in Mahindra World City, I needed atleast 1.5 hrs to reach Koyambedu. Mahindra World City is supposed to be a part of Chennai but is actually 50 kms outside the city.

Time 9:00 pm. I had a good dinner and then went to get a printout of the ticket. Old habits die hard. I had made online reservation but put off on taking a printout of the ticket till the last minute. Anyway, I fired a print and then stood intently staring at the printer, willing it to print ASAP. Couple of minutes passed. I realized something must be wrong. It doesn't take this long to print a ticket. Is that a light blinking? Darn! No paper. I hurried to check the remaining trays. As luck would have it, not only the trays, but even the spare paper stacks stored near the printer were empty.

Time 9:45 pm. I should have started 15 mins back. Nary a worry. I am usually lucky and tend to be bullish about it. I was confident I will be able to make it to the bus station on time. And the PNR number in the SMS sent by the booking service will have to do for a ticket. Making up my mind, I went back to the Guest House, collected my luggage and started off. Almost immediately got an auto-rickshaw, reassured that Lady Luck was with me. The auto let me off at the main gates of Mahindra World City. Long distance buses frequent this route. I was hopeful of flagging one and hitching a ride to the main bus station in Koyambedu.

Buses were frequent. I got that much right. But none seemed to want to stop for me. A few minutes later, it started raining. There I stood by the road side, somewhat drenched, but still in high spirits. Time for another timecheck. It's 10:00 pm. Seems a bit difficult to reach the station on time. Nary a worry. I have the bus contact number. All I need to do is call the number, rant a few excuses and get a seat for the next bus. Darn! Number temporarily disconnected. Tough luck.

All cockiness gone, I reassessed my situation. The last bus for the service I had opted for was at mid-night. So I could still get a bus if I reached the station. I could take a local bus till Tambaram and then catch one of the long distance bus from there to Koyambedu. Reached Tambaram in 15 minutes. After waiting for 10 minutes, caught a bus going to Koyambedu. The conductor assured me we should reach the station in 45 minutes. As it turned out, it was much longer than that. By the time I got off at the main bus station, it was 12:15 am.

I hurried inside, inquiring for the bus terminus to Bangalore. Following directions, I reached a platform. Looking around I felt something amiss. Where are the counters of the bus service providers? Am I at the correct terminal? I turned to the person next to me and made some inquiries. Communication in Chennai is a bit difficult, given that I don't know the local language and many localites speak somewhat less than passable English. Somehow I managed to get a few answers. I gathered there are two bus terminuses - Government and Private. I was at the Government Bus Station. My bus was supposed to be at the Private Bus Station. Now why didn't I know that?

Anyway, started walking in the direction towards which the gentleman pointed his finger, stopping and confirming the route from passerbys on several occasions. Finally reached a place that didn't at all resemble a bus station. But it was! I found someone in my bus provider's counter and dunned him nice and proper. The fact that I didn't have a ticket never even came up, he was totally to be blamed. How dare he not have a valid phone number on the ticket? By the time I was done, the poor guy was really miserable and I started feeling sorry for him. There were no more buses of the service. So he tried with the affiliated service providers for any available seats. Unfortunately, all were booked. So I bid adieu after thanking him and went back to the Government bus station.

To my good fortune, I was just in time to catch a KSRTC AC bus which had a seat available. Completely tired by now, I fell asleep almost as soon as I boarded the bus. I wasn't up till 7:30 am. And we were in Bangalore. I have learnt my lesson - Planned Trips, no more!!