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And then in 1955 Development hit us like a blackjack from behind...Muthukur Model.
We still didn't have 'current'.
But one day the KVR Brothers who ran our Nellore-Muthukur buses decided that ours was becoming a prosperous route. And the good old couple of Benz Buses we fell in love with were no longer adequate to cope with the rush. So they decided to withdraw them from our route (along with my good old driver-friend Mastan) and deploy them elsewhere. And replaced them with a couple of brand new Leyland Buses (pronounced charmingly, 'Loyland').
To me the new Loyland Bus was an unfriendly ogre.
It was twice the length of the old Benz Bus. And seated twice as many. But it didn't have the look of a sedan. It had no 'nose'...the engine was pushed inside into the front end of the bus. It had no prestigious 'front seats' with their own door. The driver and the driven were no longer contiguous...the driver became an untouchable, torn apart from others by the monstrous engine that was smuggled in.
And we heard a new word called Diesel Engine that was pronounced with awe.
Our Benz Bus had a rear door that opened into a quadrangle where the hoi polloi squatted while the 'premium' passengers sat on the four benches that lined the four walls. The Loyland Bus had two doors into it, one for entrance and the other for exit. It had 3x2 plush seats that ran its length and an aisle where one could only stand hanging on to leather straps dangling from the ceiling, suspended from steel rods.
There was a sort of front seat which was a punishment. It was a 3-seater cushioned bench looking sideways at the engine and the driver. It had no leg room. Worse is that one had to turn his head left to see what was going on in the traffic on the road. And get a crick in the neck.
And the bus sped at a fantastic 40 mph without the rattle music that I missed badly. The worst part of the Loyland Bus was that it had garish white tube lights all over its interior...on the sides and the ceiling. And there was a fan for the driver.
The last bus now started at Nellore as late as 8 in the night and reached Muthukur at 9. And it ran along our bazaar street with all its lights switched on to show off. And in the dark night the speeding lights made it look like a phantom will-o'-the-wisp.
The first time I traveled by it on its last leg in the night, I was sorely disappointed. The driver turned on all the interior lights and in their glare nothing outside could be seen...no bulls' glowing eyes, no firefly-lit trees, no night owls...no nothing except your dozing neighbor.
All in all I hated the new Loyland Bus and missed my Benz Buses.
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We still didn't have 'current'.
But one day the KVR Brothers who ran our Nellore-Muthukur buses decided that ours was becoming a prosperous route. And the good old couple of Benz Buses we fell in love with were no longer adequate to cope with the rush. So they decided to withdraw them from our route (along with my good old driver-friend Mastan) and deploy them elsewhere. And replaced them with a couple of brand new Leyland Buses (pronounced charmingly, 'Loyland').
To me the new Loyland Bus was an unfriendly ogre.
It was twice the length of the old Benz Bus. And seated twice as many. But it didn't have the look of a sedan. It had no 'nose'...the engine was pushed inside into the front end of the bus. It had no prestigious 'front seats' with their own door. The driver and the driven were no longer contiguous...the driver became an untouchable, torn apart from others by the monstrous engine that was smuggled in.
And we heard a new word called Diesel Engine that was pronounced with awe.
Our Benz Bus had a rear door that opened into a quadrangle where the hoi polloi squatted while the 'premium' passengers sat on the four benches that lined the four walls. The Loyland Bus had two doors into it, one for entrance and the other for exit. It had 3x2 plush seats that ran its length and an aisle where one could only stand hanging on to leather straps dangling from the ceiling, suspended from steel rods.
There was a sort of front seat which was a punishment. It was a 3-seater cushioned bench looking sideways at the engine and the driver. It had no leg room. Worse is that one had to turn his head left to see what was going on in the traffic on the road. And get a crick in the neck.
And the bus sped at a fantastic 40 mph without the rattle music that I missed badly. The worst part of the Loyland Bus was that it had garish white tube lights all over its interior...on the sides and the ceiling. And there was a fan for the driver.
The last bus now started at Nellore as late as 8 in the night and reached Muthukur at 9. And it ran along our bazaar street with all its lights switched on to show off. And in the dark night the speeding lights made it look like a phantom will-o'-the-wisp.
The first time I traveled by it on its last leg in the night, I was sorely disappointed. The driver turned on all the interior lights and in their glare nothing outside could be seen...no bulls' glowing eyes, no firefly-lit trees, no night owls...no nothing except your dozing neighbor.
All in all I hated the new Loyland Bus and missed my Benz Buses.
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