Hop aboard a double-decker bus in Coimbatore

Experience the joy of riding a double decker bus in Coimbatore during the Vizha event till December 1.

The yellow and red double-decker bus, that takes people on short joyrides across Gandhipuram, does not fail to stun onlookers wherever it goes. Two such buses have been brought to the city for the Coimbatore Vizha to take people on free rides. I hop on to one of them inside VOC Park and find the perfect seat at the top deck.

It’s a typical Coimbatore pre-winter morning, and there is a slight nip in the air. The top deck fills up in no time, and volunteers R Rajasekar, S Sudharsan, and S R Raghul, advise us to remain seated for the first few minutes. The bus, that feels like a mammoth whale, trundles outside, entering LIC Road. This stretch has plenty of trees and we keep ducking to avoid being clobbered by stray branches

P Nagathal is seated cautiously on her seat next to her granddaughter N Elakya, who whips out her phone to shoot videos. The 66-year-old breaks into a smile as the bus enters Gandhipuram and goes up the newly-constructed flyover. This stretch is when passengers are allowed to stand up, since there is no tree cover overhead to hinder movement.

The world looks completely different from atop a gigantic double-decker bus; for one, I notice things I otherwise would not pay attention to. The narrow spaces behind tall buildings where dogs nap; clotheslines on the terrace of commercial establishments; deserted by-lanes in which the homeless rest… Crosscut Road snakes its way forward to my left, flanked by glitzy buildings on either side, with people and vehicles appearing like toys on a mission.

With the wind in my hair, and some unusual views — buses at the Gandhipuram bus-stand look like cardboard shoeboxes — I also overhear snippets of endearing exchanges between passengers. It is M Parkavi’s birthday, and she is celebrating it in the bus with her friend R Varsha (“What a birthday!” she exclaims every few minutes). Nagathal’s son P Nagarajan tells her that she can stand up if she wants to, and comes forward to give her a hand. (“Paathu, paathu”, he tells her). J Gayathri and her colleague and friend P Karthik, who work in an IT company at Saravanampatti, chuckle about their “sick leave” put to good use.

The bus does a U-turn at the end of the flyover, driving us back to VOC Park. “We do about 21 trips a day on average,” says B Sanjeev, who is the event leader in charge of the double-decker bus rides. “Rides increase over weekends and so does participation.”

“We also offer bookings in batches for NGOs, children, and those with special needs,” he says, adding that their team members are sticklers for safety. Volunteers — most of them college students working part-time — join passengers on every ride, offering safety instructions and ensuring overall ride discipline.