BUS DRIVER’S OPEN APOLOGY

A Lesson thought by an Army Captain to an undisciplined bus driver
The bus driver who scolded the passengers in ‘vulgar’ words was made to apologise and seek pardon by changing his attire- wearing a pair of trousers, shirt along with a tie and also cutting his hair and shaving his beard:

It is a common occurrence about the peculiar behaviour of most bus drivers and conductors towards the helpless commuters. However a very few retaliate to their comments. Most commuters evade confrontation to avoid losing self respect. This is the opinion of many.
There was an unusual incident reported from Matara last week where a brave commuter had retaliated to the action of a bus driver by initially reporting an incident to the Police. This commuter by profession is a Captain in the Sri Lanka Army serving in the North who had thought a very good lesson to a bus driver for using obscene language in his presence to the commuters.
After he had lodged a complaint in the Matara Police Station, the driver of this bus he travelled in was made to apologise in public to the captain only after cutting and shaving his hair and then wearing a pair of trousers, shirt and to go with it a tie. This pardon he was asked to make to the captain in front of a large gathering of people who segregated at the Matara bus stand.
The incident involving Harendra Madanayake, who serves the Army in the North.

The real incident is as follows:
The bus that had to terminate at Matara, its ultimate destination was abruptly stopped at Welgama and the passengers were asked to get off and forced to alight into other speeding buses that were proceeding towards Matara. As there were many passengers all could not be accommodated in one bus. The next one too could not pick up all the passengers. This meant that some were stranded and according to the cruel driver the rest had to stay for over another one and a half hours until the next bus arrived. At that time a heated argument between the remaining passengers and the bus driver started.
One old gentlemen through sheer anger ‘you fellows what is this madness, you asking to alight and then ask to get down’.The driver retaliated asking ‘what did you say, tho denagannawa......and continued with filth.’ The driver of the bus told you will have stay for some more time. At this moment the captain intervened and said we are only concerned in going to Matara as soon as possible. The driver retaliated and told the captain, you are also trying to argue with me and scolded him also in filthy words.
On arrival at Matara, the captain lodged a complaint in the Police station explaining the sequence of events. The owner of the bus in fear of losing the route permit for committing offences like stopping the bus at unusual places, usage of dirty words, death threats and for insulting passengers had slowly approached the captain for reconciliation by withdrawing his complaint.
He agreed only on the grounds that the driver cuts his hair, shaves his beard, dresses a pair of trousers, wears a shirt and to with it a tie would pardon him only if he adheres to these conditions in front of his colleagues in the bus stand at Matara.
This was ultimately done in front of a large gathering of people. The photograph shows how it all happened and the severe embarrassment he faced in front of his own colleagues.