Chain Communication

The buses on certain routes in Mumbai are overcrowded.
After fortunately entering at the bus stop, if the bus stops,
Trying to get a ticket is another difficult endeavor.
Your voice like the conductor tends to go unheard
With the surround noise testing your listening skills.

In my deep silence, I hear an old woman yell...
“Mandir se Nagar … Mandir se Nagar.”
I looked at her as she yelled into my face.
I thought an enthusiastic mantra she was chanting
Until she handed me her money repeating...
“मंदिर से नगर |”

It then struck me, to the conductor she was pleading.
To please pass on the money, my hand I was lending.
“Mandir se Nagar” to the conductor I uttered;
My long hand returned the ticket of which she had endlessly muttered.

Communication on the bus is a different story.
When the total holding capacity of a bus is met,
Commuters start to pass on their fare till a ticket they get.
The conductor returns a ticket slowly
If he has understood this his round of a Chinese whisper.
This language system is a wonder
Because everyone involved makes no blunder.