Riding the city bus

I learned to ride the bus. This doesn't sound like such an accomplishment but there is no route map or timetable. You basically just have to get on a bus and see where it goes. I live on one side of the city, near JNU, and my classes through IES (my abroad program) are held on the other side of the city. Yesterday I had some extra time between classes in the two locations and decided to get on the bus at JNU. I figured I would ride it until it wasn't heading toward the IES center anymore and then would get out and take an auto (rickshaw). This worked fabulously well and I got almost the whole way on that one bus. 

Today I rode it again and and soon after leaving JNU, an exceedingly dirty, very old homeless man sat down next to me. Most of the other people on the bus are school kids or reasonably well dressed adults who seem to be on their way somewhere. This guy sat down next to me and the fare collector (there's a guy on every bus whose job is to collect money from people as they get on and occasionally stick his head out the door to help the driver around tight turns) came over to ask where he's going. The old man told him he's only going a couple of stops and asked does he really have to pay? The fare collector was pretty insistent and started to get mad, motioning that the guy needed to get off the bus if he wasn't going to pay. At that point the old man untied a bandanna from around his leg, pulled out a box of matches and opened it to reveal a couple of empty wrappers, a piece of thread, and a half rupee coin, making it clear that this was the extent of his worldly possessions. Apparently that demonstration gets you a free ride on the bus. After carefully wrapping everything back up and tying it around his leg again, he moved in favor of a window seat that opened up a few rows forward.