In the land of the Lone Truck Driver…

Its 7:30 on a chilly and drizzly Monday morning and I am scurrying to reach the bus stop to catch the earliest possible bus that would take me to downtown Vancouver. I run across slouchy mud and slippery grass to cut through a field escaping a detour which was the road to the bus stop. Though it was supposedly spring the dark overbearing clouds reminded me of Gotham city. Up ahead at the mountains I could see more clouds erupting in angry shenanigans. It was getting uncomfortable by the minute and I really wished I had a car that would have saved me from being exposed to the elements. Walking is not a pleasant experience in this weather and that too when u have to drag yourself on a Monday morning. I looked on to the highway eagerly hoping to see the bus in middle of the incessant traffic as cars and trucks whizzed by. Staring into the time table at the bus stop I realized that I had missed the bus by a whisker. The next bus was not due in another 15 minutes, which was not bad, I consoled myself. What I didn’t know then was that my much awaited bus would never show up and leave me waiting for a bus for the next half an hour at the mercy of the winds which were piercing my cheeks.

Just waiting for a bus was in itself a feat to conquer, to defy nature at its raw best. I had my armor in the form of an all weather jacket and thermal vest inside, which did put a valiant fight against the wind that was battling on. I stood there trying to fathom how the initial settlers would have managed to fend off this extreme weather without the comforts and technology of modern day winter clothing. May be they just had to huddle up around a fire and not wait for a stupid bus that never showed up. At least they knew what they were doing.

It was peak hour traffic on a Monday morning and the inundating flow of traffic on the highway seemed as if the floodgates of the perennial motor world had been swung open. Cars, trucks and four wheel drives, SUV’s you name it, they had it. It felt like a NASCAR run for all shapes and sizes racing away to glory. I just decided to count the cars for there were no stars to while away the time, rather than crap about the rotten bus schedule. I soon noticed that there were more trucks and SUV’s than cars that were zipping the road. And to add to it they were all driven by a lone driver and nobody else inside. What initially seemed to be a silly coincidence soon proved the fact that people in this part of the world certainly did not believe in car pooling. I was really in the land of the lone truck driver….

People were so individualistic that they had to have different cars for different occasions. A truck for his sports and hunting and of course one cannot take their truck to work, so you had to have another six seating monster to drive to work. Carbon taxes and rising fuel prices were still paper jokes that hardly had any effect on reality and the global warming was some sort of horror fantasy which has become a fad these days. I took a deep breath and sighed overwhelmingly at my helplessness to save the world or keep it green. May be there will be a time that people would realize and I hope its not too late coz we are living on borrowed time. If we fail to come up with efficient solutions without raping nature every day to gratify our hedonistic life style, we are doomed for disaster. These fossils fuels are not going to last for long and when we have already resorted to bio fuel these days pushing the yield of farmlands, depleting soil fertility, and deforestation that would eventually take us to severe drought and the end of our world.

I said a solemn prayer for showing us the right path and doing the right thing. The world would be a much better place to live and sustainable only if we were more sensible and without having to splurge nature of her limited opulence. There were so many little things we could do so that many a trickle would make a big difference… so as to say a more efficient public transport and people being keener on doing their bit so that we can save what we have for our future generations to enjoy. I was fighting these thought demons and didn’t see the bus coming until I heard the jarring sound of the bus door open up for me. “Good morning” said the bus driver as I smiled back at him, punching in my ticket, only to find that I had the whole bus for myself!!! Surely I was in the land of the lone BUS driver….