Bus Conversation

The Fine Art of Bus Conversation

No one talks to anybody on the bus anymore. Cellphones killed 'real' conversation long time ago. You climb onto a bus and once the doors shut, everyone is furiously punching the digits. If someone is quietly sitting in a corner, invariably the phone will ring with some annoying ring tone (another bane of technology) and starts yapping on it.
A few months ago, there were the unlucky ones who didn't get place to sit and had to stand and grab the handrails and couldn't grab the phone. Now after Christmas, everyone has got an I-Pod or some portable player or the other and now if they aren't talking they are plugged in.
A girl revealed to me her complete plan of study and what courses she finds hard. A few seats away, I am tempted to suggest to the guy a particular restaurant for his dinner tonight. I hear a voice in Chinese or Korean talking at supersonic speed, can't make out anything. Perhaps WE couldn't talk. My neighbour is listening to Outkast and is bobbing his head and smiling to HIMSELF.
I look at my fellow passengers disdainfully and lament the death of 'Bus Conversation' and plug into Mark Knopfler on my I-Pod.