Recently I happened to travel from Karaikudi, Tamilnadu to Bangalore in KPN travels. The bus started from karaikudi around 8:30 pm. The journey looked smooth in the beginning. But around 12:15 am the bus stopped in the middle of some deserted place. The engine was still on. There was nothing around except few trees. The only thing we could see is a railway gate far away. To start with I felt that it was OK because stopping in the middle was common in KPN buses. 45 mins had passed away but the bus was still there. I felt something was wrong and told my friend Vignesh to check what was happening. He went and tried to open the cabin door, It was locked. He banged twice on the door but nothing was happening. Then, he came back to his seat. We decided to wait for another 15 mins. Most of the people in the bus were sleeping only few thought something was wrong but were still hesitant to find out what it was? Only one lady in the front got up and started banging the cabin door from where there was no reply. Looking at this me and Vignesh felt something is really wrong. We started banging the door hard. At last the cleaner guy opened the door. He looked so tired and sleepy, he dint even know that the bus was on a halt. Further to our surprise we found the driver sleeping on the seat. We tried to wake him but failed. We realized that the driver and the cleaner were drunk. We dint know what to do for a while. Then we called up the KPN customer care. They wanted to talk to the driver who we could not even wake up.
Meanwhile 2 people on a bike where passing by. We stopped them to find out the place where we were. We were shaken when they told that they saw the driver in a bar in Karaikudi. The 2 people woke up the driver. The first thing the driver said was
"This is not my bus and I dont know who you people are".
We were shocked to hear this. Then, people told to switch the engine off, for which the driver replied its off only. We pour water on the drivers face. The KPN customer care told to somehow manage till Salem with the drunken driver and then we will provide an alternate driver. It was a 3hrs journey from that place to Salem. We had no choice, we decided to keep an eye on the driver while he was driving. We reached Salem safely. The KPN authorities denied an alternate driver as they stated the drunk driver has brought us safely till Salem. We were not in a position to argue as many people wanted to reach Bangalore soon. Then we traveled with so much fear. The bus stopped in Adayar Anandha Bhavan near Krishnagiri. We got another driver there. Then, at last we reached Bangalore safe around 9:45am. The bus was late by 3 hours. It was a dramatic experience. The only thing the KPN authorities did was to call every 2hours asking where the bus was.
