Don't load them guns

In the bus, from Gwalior to Shivpuri, I saw this note painted up front:

"Please do not carry loaded guns in the bus."

It makes me feel postively deprived... no gun, no bullets, don't know how to shoot.

This is pretty much Daaku-terrain, the infamous Chambal, where I'd been six months ago.

This is the region that has more gun-n-ammunition stores (80 to be precise) than it has ration shops, or aaganwadi centres. This is where almost every other Thakur family owns a gun, and isn't afraid to use it. This is the land of the Baaghi, where people believe in taking their revenge and damn the consequences. The families take pride in the sons who defy the law, who 'went into the forests'.

I'm sorry for the bus drivers, though. Can't be pleasant, driving through dacoit-land, knowing that half the passengers are carrying guns. Suppose the bus breaks down in the middle of nowhere? Suppose tempers are running short? Suppose two fueding families or clans get onto the bus, both armed?

Hence, that respectful little notice, requesting passengers not to load their weapons, at least.