On board Delhi

“Boarding pass please”,asks Kumar,the guest relations executive,as we hop on to a bus at Raj Ghat one evening at 5 p.m. Fourteen buses do the rounds of the city between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.—the website says you can find a bus every half-an-hour at each of the 19 HOHO points. Taking the ride after 2 p.m.,says Kapil,makes no sense. “If you want to just sit in the bus and see the city,then you could take it in the second half. But anyway this is a big city and you cannot see all the 19 points in one day.”

A new scheme was launched on January 1. Every ticket now is valid for a two-day ride— but the second ride has to be taken within a week. Kapil insists it is because one day is too short to see the city. Considering that the buses have been running empty,barely 100 tickets sold across all the 14 buses throughout this day for instance,this might well draw more passengers.

Today on the bus,there is a young Australian couple,a high school graduate from Los Angeles engrossed in his copy of Lonely Planet,a middle-aged couple from Kerala,and us.

Wade Benson and Leonie Murphy,an Australian couple who have been globetrotting for the last six years,say unlike most other countries where it costs a good $50 for a single day’s ride,this one at Rs 300 comes cheap. “We got to know of the service from co-passengers in the train while on our way back from Varanasi. We would otherwise have taken a cab and paid four times the fare per head. They should keep the brochures at hotels and inns. Today we plan to see the city from the bus and tomorrow we will hop off at some of the points,” says Leonie.

There are a few brochures on the bus and two DVDs,one with the Palash Sen’s jingle on Delhi,composed to invite tourists for the Commonwealth Games and the other a ten-minute documentary showcasing India’s heritage. Kapil insists it is boring and tourists get bored so they run a medley of old and new Bollywood songs. There is a DVD with English pop too.

As the bus passes Sher Shah Gate,Purana Quila and heads towards Humayun’s Tomb. Kapil talks with passengers with ease. He is regularly quizzed on the country’s politics,culture,food,cricket and religion but he tries to get the conversation back to monuments. “This is where Humayun lived,” he says casually as we cross Purana Qila. “He fell from the steps of Sher Mandal,his library. We are now moving towards Humayun’s Tomb. Had he not fallen off and died here,the tomb wouldn’t have been built,” he says.

By late evening,as the bus negotiates South Delhi’s traffic,touching past its designated points,the Saket malls,Qutab Minar,Hauz Khas Village,Dilli Haat,Safdarjung’s Tomb,stopping at each of them for a few seconds,Kapil makes fewer announcements. The passengers,tired now,ask him to stop by the metro stations closest to their hotels or homes.

HOHO points: Baba Kharak Singh Marg,Firoz Shah Kotla,Red Fort,Raj Ghat,National Gallery for Modern Art,India Gate,Purana Quila,Humayun’s Tomb,Lajpat Nagar Market,Lotus Temple,Saket malls,Qutab Minar,Hauz Khas Village,Dilli Haat,Safdarjung’s Tomb,Indira Gandhi Memorial Museum,Jawaharlal Nehru Museum,National Museum,Janpath Market,Jantar Mantar.

Timings: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Fare: Rs. 300

Tickets are available on board the bus or can be booked online