Indian Adventure Numero Uno

There are so many topics to choose from for this entry--my day trip to Mamallapuram where I saw temples and ate delicious fresh fish, Indian culture and mannerisms I find amusing, what it's like moving about in a city where the population density is well over 25,000 people per square km, food (that one is coming), Sailesh and his family and friends, my first Bollywood movie going--but, I feel that my first true Indian travel experience deserves the spotlight. Let me preface this tale by saying that although I would never wish for anything to go wrong when getting from A to B, it struck me as quite amusing at the time that the very premier of my city to city transport unfolded in this way. I consider myself lucky to have been in such a frame of mind because this trip had plenty of potential to induce irritation.
At 9:30pm, Sailesh and I were getting a bit of a late start making the 2.5 hour journey from Chennai to Puducherry or Pondicherry (all the cities are being renamed post colonialism so you can basically take your pick), but we weren't too worried since buses run often and round the clock. We let a full looking bus or two go by before deciding to just hop on and stand until folks got off (which we figured they surely would as other popular destinations are along the way). Standing was comfortable enough spacewise--not quite shoulder to shoulder so I could take a wide stance and hold on with both hands to steady myself for noisy, pushy, hectic Indian traffic. We stopped a few times to pick up passengers but no one seemed to be getting off early. After about 2 hours of standing, a couple of boys got off and we were able to squeeze on to a seat. Phew!
Not 15 minutes had passed when the driver braked very abruptly sending us all lurching forward. There was a man sitting on the stairs catching the breeze from the opening where the door should have been and when the bus stopped so shortly, he hit his head on the door frame and fell out onto the pavement. Of course there was commotion over this, but instead of pausing to check on the man, the driver--likely fearful of what the harmed party might do in retaliation--stepped hard on the gas and away we went, leaving the poor soul on the side of the road. Some 15 or 20 minutes later, the driver pulled off at a police station and reported the mishap, surely thinking it would be taken care of and we could go on our way. The police were not prepared to let him off so easily and his new engagement meant everyone had to deboard and change buses. This would have been a less interesting development had a new bus been sent for, but no such communication was made and thus, a hefty busload of people found themselves standing on the side of the road in the middle of the night essentially hitchhiking as a group. Plenty of buses were whizzing by but they were either clearly full or simply didn't want to accommodate us. One did stop and of course it was a mob scene to get on so Sailesh and I continued to wait with now half a bus's worth of people. Eventually, another one pulled over. Before we got on passengers were already using standing room, but we all squeezed on anyway, like freshly sealed sardines. I've never been on public transport packed so tightly. Move an inch and you've jabbed your neighbor. On the upside, there was no need to hold on too tightly since there wasn't any space to fall into. At any rate, we reached our final destination well after two am, Sailesh had a snack, I showered and we each collapsed into lovely white sheets at Ginger Hotel (a new line of budget hotels in India). It was the first air-conditioned room I'd stayed in in 6 weeks. I slept very well.