ऐकलेला बस डेपोThe Bus Depot We Heard About

Sunday morning. Bandya, reading the paper, turned to Ganu and switched on. “Ganya, first-class news today. Look.”

By now Ganu knew Bandopant-saheb well, so he showed no particular curiosity and asked at leisure, “What news?”

Bandu had his audience. And… action! “Do you know, our Market Yard is getting a new bus depot!”

Ganu: “So more buses. Convenient for us.”

But Ganu knew Bandopant was never going to stop there, so he held out his palm for a high-five to Mangu, who had just walked into the room.

Bandu carried on, as was his habit. “Ganu-sheth, think long-term for once! We are getting a bus depot. All this while, the buses we ride here, what is written on the back? What stamp do they carry? Do you know?”

“No,” said Ganu, with a slightly fallen face. As expected. A round of improving sentences was headed his way, and he had braced for it.

Bandu: “We are educated people. Put it to use. Read. Remember. GK, does it exist or not!! Never mind. So. Every bus carries the stamp of its depot on the back. We have no depot now, so the stamp says Swargate. Once the depot comes, the stamp will say Market Yard. Which means we can tell from the stamp on the back whether a bus belongs to Market Yard!

So if we're ever lost somewhere, the moment we see the stamp, start pedalling. Follow it, and without fail, back to the pavilion!”

Had it been only Ganu, the theory might even have gone down. But Mangu's tube light came on.

“But from the back, how will you know if the bus is coming from Market Yard or going to it?”

The face Bandopant made at that moment is what, in Puneri, is called a “Kodak movement”.