26 Jul 2012 Kerala Commentary
Bus shelters vanishing everywhere in Kerala to make room for the rich.
P.S.Remesh Chandran.
Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum.
When transport buses began to ply the routes of Kerala, drivers of these vehicles stopped them where it was convenient for them to stop. These points gradually became Bus Stops. Usually they were at places where a steep climb stops or ends. When buses began to regularly stop at the same spot, for the convenience and rest of travellers as buses were not regular and prompt on time then, little shops began to be established in and around the place. First came the pan shop, then the grocer, baker and the hair cutting saloon and then the butcher, carpenter and the florist. When travel became a regular habit, people began to construct houses nearby for residence and for commerce. Thus the town developed around the bus stop. It was the bus stop that caused the town. When people saw that their women and children waited long hours for the bus, standing here and there and unsheltered from rain and shine, good organizations in villages and towns constructed waiting shelters for their convenience. It was the standard practice for K.S.Y.F, D.Y.F.I, I.N.T.U.C, C.I.T.U, A.I.T.U.C, B.M.S, local clubs and generous individuals to construct a waiting shed in their locality. When we travelled through Kerala from Kasaragodu to Kaliyikkavila and through the inroads to inner villages, we could see thousands of such resting places constructed by the good minded local people for their brothers and sisters and children to rest till the bus comes. Many of them were well constructed, with concrete roofs and cement benches. Those which were constructed with eucalyptus poles and thatched roofing also were promptly maintenanced each year by those who constructed them.
As townships came to be established around bus stops, the price of land soared and only the rich could afford to purchase land there and build houses. It was because there was this bus stop and the conveniences of travel resulting from it that these rich people came to that place, purchased land, built houses and settled. Before long they began to think another way. ‘Because the buses stop in front of our houses and people always are sitting there in the bus stops, we are nowadays getting no privacy. Moreover the real estate agents have told that if the bus stop could be moved, then our land would fetch considerably more money when sold someday. That P.W.D. Roads Division engineer who shares my table in the bar also has once told me that removing a bus stop from its place is easy.’ In every main junction in Trivandrum, when we travel through the East Fort – Peroorkada route we can see bus stops removed thus in so many places such as Peroorkada, Ambalammukku, Kowdiar, Vellayambalam, Palayam, Statue and Ayurveda College Junction, to please the rich. When bus stops began to be moved, they were moved to places where there were no security and safety for women passengers. Drunkards began to roam these areas; they would sit on the seats provided for passengers, spit on the floor, call passengers obscene names and lie on the floor without any clothes on. All these never would have happened had these bus stops remained in the main proper junctions which they caused to come into being. The local people call them ‘snakes’ which is apt. Sometimes they would get hold of and seize lonely women passengers who can only scream but no help would come to their aid. For a few spoiled rich persons, by a few wicked road engineers, are these women of Kerala suffering this ignominious shame. MLAs, MPs, State Ministers and Government Secretaries travelling high speed in people’s cars do see these things but never utter a word in the Assembly, Parliament, Cabinet and Secretariate. They do know everything and can understand everything, as when election comes, they go to every house and describe every woe of people vividly. When they ascend the throne they conveniently forget things which they described days before in stages and platforms. People waiting in miserable bus stands waiting for overcrowded buses to come see authorities flying before them with dozens of police escort cars and curse them publicly. These authorities also know that the people are doing this when they pass but this doesn’t affect those ignominious births in any way. Once we become a shameless politician or authority and taste the thrill and sweetness of the power of authority, we gain the power to ignore shame.
Originally published as What Happened To The Bus Shelters In Kerala?