India, May 18 -- In the American film Paterson, the hero, played by Adam Driver, is a city bus driver who writes poetry, earnestly jotting down the lines in a notebook.

In Delhi, there is a man as striking as that film actor. Plus, Pawan Kumar Tomar too drives a city bus, with the Delhi Transport Corporation. And he too writes poetry, earnestly jotting down the lines in a notebook. His poems have appeared in the poetry anthology Aaj ke Hindi Kavi (Contemporary Hindi Poets). Indeed, his notebook rests openly on the dashboard beside the steering wheel, a blue-ink pen tucked into its lined pages, ready for use during breaks.

"As I drive, my mind concentrates on the road," Pawan says, seated in his empty bus parked at South Delhi's Sri Niva...