Airavat – originally the name of Indra’s white elephant, that he had stolen from Thailand.
Now, Airavat – name of restaurant on Mysore road just beyond RV college that us cheap ones used to frequent until they hiked up prices by 40%. Now they’re on the verge of bankruptcy due to the absence of our patronage.
Also, Airavat – Mysore to Bangalore and back Volvo bus services. These volvo buses are imported and air conditioned, high end luxury means of travel between the two cities, equipped with a TV on which movies are screened as well.
These Volvo buses are really popular, and one can have a comfortable journey for about Rs.150. I haven’t travelled too much on them, since I prefer the cheaper trains, because I love the discomfort of standing around in a crowded compartment, munching on dirty ‘Maddur vadas’.
These buses are generally nice, but after a thorough cost-benefit analysis, I have decided that a Rajhamsa bus, which is the next level on which a ticket is priced at a reasonably lesser sum of Rs.109 is much more worthwhile.
For someone who is not too hard-pressed for time, and has an office located on the outskirts of Bangalore on the right side, a Rajhamsa bus has a lot more advantages. There is an absence of air-conditioning that I like a lot better, also because there are curtains that one can pull across to hide the sunlight if it ever reaches oppressive levels.
The Rajhamsa bus stops for 20 minutes at some hotel on the way for one to take a loo-break and have something to eat. The Volvo bus, on the other hand, does not stop at all. In addition, this is among those fleet of Volvo buses that does not have a toilet on board, as a result of which its not really a comfortable thing to drink a whole lot before you get on the bus.
The movie screened on the Volvo is usually some lousy movie, and the fact that the movie plays loudly without headphones is a downright pain in the ass, if you want to crash or read a book or listen to your own stuff. This is again an area where a Rajhamsa scores over the Airavat buses.
All in all, I guess it makes me wonder why I personally have chosen to travel on a Volvo when a super deluxe non-AC bus is much more convenient for me to travel on.
(This analysis that I had sort of reminded me of the dialogue that Topol used to have with himself in the ‘Fiddler on the Roof’, though my issues and points have been relatively trivial.)
general ksrtc (k here being karnataka) volvo buses are all called airavath n’ non-ac rajahamsa. yup, i also prefer rajahamsa even for longer distances. ‘cuz somehow the volvos don’t agree with my bowels or rather, the other way round. have a lot of air problems thru’out the journey always. n’ i’m not the only one.. i think its the a.c. n’ the less leg space. deb n’ i had a nice journey on train. its really the best. ac chair car- vada/idli, bread omlette, cutlet, masala dosa n’ whatnot. dunno whether to credit laloo or whether the lalbagh exp wuz always like this. n’ the blr station is better than the airport now!
How long did it take you to write this blog.