My First Day in Bangalore...

It was my first job. I got transfer to Bangalore. We were total 10-12 people who got transfer at the same time, all from same fresher training batch in IBM. Company had provided accomodation in a hotel near Dickenson road in Bangalore. My office was on residency road. It was my first day in Bangalore.

I went to office in the morning by taking auto. Then while coming back to hotel I thought its nearby distance and I should try bus instead of auto. So on residency road I got into a bus on one of the signals. I got in from front gate of the bus. I was standing near the front door. I asked the conductor whether the bus goes near my hotel and got the ticket. He asked me to wait near the bus door as I have to get down after some 2-3 stops.

There were lot of ladies standing near the door and the front side of the bus. At next stop few more ladies got into the bus from the front door. So that part of the bus was very crowded now. I was just standing at the same place, very near to the door. Then some lady started saying something to me, probably in Kannada. I didn't get anything. I didn't bother to ask it to somebody as bus was getting nearer to my stop. Following that lady, few more ladies were looking at me and saying something in Kannada. I just ignored that. I was confused and kind of surprised about that, as I was new to this city and it was my first day in Bangalore. It was looking as if they are saying something slang to me and I was just ignoring that.

Finally after suffering from this, I got down near my hotel. In the evening I told this story to my friends. And they gave a surprising answer to me, which answered all my questions about the bus, the ladies and everyone in the bus. My friends told me that, in Bangalore, ladies get into and out of the bus from the front gate. And they seat and stand on the front side of the bus. While men seat or stand in the back side in the bus. Now I realized, why there was no man on the front side in the bus...