Road Journey in Telangana in Public Transport Bus

It has been quite a while since i had a long journey in a public bus. Used to travel in Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) during my graduation days between Thiruvananthapuram / Trivandrum and my home in Cherthala / Shertallai. Not so quite comfortable journey mostly carried out after second show of a movie in a theatre near Thampanoor so that i can use the 4 hours for sleeping. During my first year in college, this journey in a Fast Passenger class of KSRTC bus costed around Rs. 20. Generally there will be a pit stop at Kayamkulam for pipping hot tea and snacks. Those memories apart, i made use of a recent trip for an opportunity to travel by Telangana public transport Journey from Ramagundam - where i am presently stationed, to Hyderabad was in night. I relished my erstwhile method of sleeping through journey in this leg.

Return journey from Hyderabad to Ramagundam was in day time. This was a "Super Luxury" category of bus which is akin to "Super Fast" of KSRTC. Its a Non-AC bus with tinted glass windows. Remarkably it has one USB port in each row of seats for Mobile Charging. I guess having mobile up and connected all the time is developing into a basic need like proverbial "Roti, Kapada aur Makaan" (Food, Cloth and Shelter) Unlike home, here only one staff is alloted to bus. He is primarily driver but doubles up as ticket dispensing, cash colleting conductor in KSRTC. The journey is again 4 hours. It was good to see the country side of Telangana - lush green with recent rains withRocky and hillock terrain appearing at times.

Initially i was bit pertubed about the single man operating the trip, but really there is nothing much to worry. State run bus depots are nearby at any point in journey & any distress call would defenitely been catered to. Did not face any such problem throughout the trip. Dirver was helpful in allowing m to get the nearest point in the route to my destination though it is not a designated stop.

COVID Blues

World has experienced a series of effects of COVID pandemic right from the year 2020. We are into the third year, but the virus is going strong with its metamorphosis through Mutations. We have seen three major waves, many a variants, death and chaos in different parts of the world. Yes, it has been quite a leveler - affecting all human races, visiting all the countries - rich or poor, taking a toll on economy thereby governance, destroying livelihood of many daily wage workers, affecting work as well as education. It has also taught us to live within our means, eat healthy and be compassionate to the world at large. The worst affected are the young adults whose formal education has suffferred beyond limits. They have missed the fun of living and learning together. Small mischiefs and greater celebrations of campus life. Hope they will get their share of fun and frolic once sun shine emerges again. We have almost ran out of greek alphabets to name the variants of COVID. Some are Variants of Concern as designated by appropriate authorities. Present reign of 'Omicron' has been described by many as signal to end of COVID era. Fervently hope that these turn out to be true. Whatever be the outcome, world has learned to live with constraints. Many functions have gone online underlining the need for a robust network backbone - available for all without restrictions. From entertainment to education and work, affordable network connectivity is of paramount importance these days. I am sure world governments have taken notice and is working to ensure the same for its citizens. In fact governance is also delivered through the same network these days. May we pour collective wisdom of mankind into developing as well as deploying faster networks. Care should be taken to ensure availability of the same to the poorest of its citizens through appropriate mechanisms. The security of data should be protected when all the information is available on the network. Present scheme of encryption may no where be sufficient once quantum computers are deployed from their present research epoch. May be like COVID, mankind may have to live with exposure to private data. The targeted marketing calls or advertising one receives is a clear indication of systems knowing ones preference or search history. World will keep on evolving. Its quite good to know that human race will continue to adapt so that we can carry on. Future generations may not have "JOB" as seen in traditional sense. But then ours is quite different from those a century ago. Data, Infrastructure and security systems will be the thrust areas. Research into high end computing and fundamental sciences are going to be in the lime light as far as i can see. All the best to one and all