Bus drivers on Green desert roads.

Valparai is well known for its tea estate and is a famous tourist place in India. Government buses are the lifeline for local people here. The buses usually travel on good-conditioned roads and off-roads in forest hamlet villages. In the morning, most of the buses start with devotional murugan songs (Tamil diety), then slowly move with evergreen Ilayaraja songs, and SPB is the prime voice of these buses. When the Valaiyosai song from Sathya movies plays on the bus, when the BGM of the song starts, it would have been goosebumps and an unofficial song of these rural buses. The driver plays a dual role: a driver and a DJ. The drivers are mostly locals; they know most of the villagers and people on the roads. They wave their hands to their known friends like painting in the air at every bus stop. They used to stop and talk for a while on the narrow roads, with their fellow drivers coming opposite with smiles. They are self-disciplined on roads while giving way to the up-climbing heavy wheelers (buses and lorries); the communication of this can be explained by the small decibel horn (pom pom) from both the drivers.

Meanwhile, four-wheelers honk on the small interval. Even though the L board cars annoyingly drive, the bus driver stays calm and does his work; while only in the worst situation, he hells with the loud voice, "Go back." Every time when the hairpin bend comes, the driver has to rotate his steering 4-5 times on the left and then onto the right side for the alignment. In these times, if a two-wheeler or four-wheeler drives unnecessarily, it can be unfair for these humble drivers too. These dedicated drivers are the unnoticed people in the government system, "RESPECT" could be a nice word for their service, safely dropping passengers off without knowing each other and only on trust. I have seen some of my elders and teachers say thank you to drivers when they drop at their destination. I wish to thank these unnoticed gentlemen, at least on long travel buses.