Bergerak ke belakang (Move behind)

"astern, backward, behind, dorsal, hind, hinder, hindermost, hindmost, last, mizzen, posterior, postern, rearmost, rearward, retral, reverse, stern, tail "

They all mean the same thing, which is "rear" and in this particular case, "of the bus". Personally, I felt compelled to share about the "anal" experiences on our public transport.

Let's do so by highlighting some of the interesting characters that you can spot on our modern-day, bus transportation system.

The Aspiring Drivers
This group loves to crowd around the driver's seat especially during peak hours. Some even go as far as to grab a "seat" right next to the driver. (the space right beside the Entry Card reader on the right). It must have been their childhood dreams to be a Bus captain but the cruelty of life depicts otherwise. As the result, they can only resort to living out their dreams by standing near to the driver on the bus, seeing what he sees and perhaps secretly mimicking every moves and turns he makes on the wheel. They have conveniently forgotten the fact that their domineering presence might prove too much for others trying to squeeze up the bus and may also be pressurizing for the poor driver who is constantly in their focus of attention.

The Idols Wannabe
Perhaps its the propaganda of media, or perhaps its the proliferation of multimedia devices, this is a group who always spots a pair of mufflers permanently glued to their ears. Constantly blasting off huge decibels of sound waves into their minds (perhaps the next budding contestant for Singapore Idol or Don't Forget the lyrics), these people have little awareness for anything going around them, save for the occasional rude awakening of the bus-stopping chime. They have an inkling for finding a spot on the bus and fixating themselves permanently there, oblivious of the bottleneck and the pileup of human traffic caused as the result. Apparently deaf to calls and signals to move behind, they will only shift when they notice the glaring stares of others during rare moments when they open their eyes to notice their next stop. Their level of situational awareness is only comparable by their "PSP-playing" counterparts.

The Inseparables
This group takes the meaning of "till death do us part" to a whole new deeper meaning. Usually appearing in pairs, they appear in the form of couples or close friends who-hasn't-seen-each-other-for-a-long-time. All is well and fine when both parties are standing on the bus talking normally. The lovey-dovey part comes when one party gets a seat (usually the girl) and almost always, their faithful partner will immediately stand vigil by their side all the way throughout the journey. Nevermind the fact that they are in the middle of the bus and nevermind about blocking every one's path. In fact, now everybody have a chance to admire their deep affection/love/friendship for each other whenever they have to make a big detour around the standing partner. One can only hope that the bus authorities will widen the width of buses in order to accommodate the love of these people.

The Stone Lions
"Sometimes known as Chinese Guardian Lions 石獅子, are a common representation of the lion in pre-modern China, which is believed to have powerful mythic protective powers that has traditionally stood in front of Imperial palaces, temples, emperors' tombs, government offices," (from Wikipedia)
Now, they stand at exits of buses.

With such an array of interesting characters, one cannot help but wonder why the tourism promotion board is not stepping up efforts to attract tourists to visit this intriguing attraction - A busload full with people, mostly crowding in the front and few at the back, doing a front-wheel wheelie at the same time.