Public Transport in Kathmandu

If you have been used to thinking yourself as a dignified individual, you are better served shedding off that illusion before you embark on public transport system in Kathmandu for a ride. In a journey from Maharajgunj to Purano Bus Park you are a lump of flesh worth Rs 15 and from Purano Bus Park to Lagankhel, Rs 17. Microbuses will stop at any place if you give a slightest hint of potential ride but stopping at your destination is a different matter. Availability of space is a secondary consideration. I have come to a conclusion, space in our microbuses is an abstract notion. It is almost limitless. Gas in your belly that can be squeezed out counts as available space. In these flesh carrying machines, if you have been stacked somewhere in a seat close to the corridor, there is a good chance someone's butt will rub against your face. And if this soul has Giardia swirling in his bowels or has devoured a sumptuous meal with fresh radish salad, you are toast. Even if you have been prudent to find a window seat in the second or third row, scourge of wet cough remains. A peculiar snorting sound heralds a maneuver which entails delicate opening of the window and spitting out into the open, throwing droplets of phlegm into the air, some of which may find way into your face if you are not agile enough to close your window on time. Furthermore, resemblance of the sound of cough to many of my patients with TB offers no consolation.