Thursday, December 10, 2009

So long Hamara Bajaj

It's the most distinct sound of my childhood, the gentle, even slightly sissy rev of the Bajaj Chetak. It didn't have the alpha male roar of the pompous Royal Enfield or the rakish charm of the Yezdi but it was aspirational and it was everywhere. It was Hamara Bajaj.
In the Indian food order, it stood betweeen the amoebic Hero cycle and the king of the road, the Royal Enfield Bullet. Safari-suited uncles rode it at 30kmph, their kids wrecked it trying to touch 40. It was the great Indian middle class dream till the Maruti 800 chugged in.
The Bajaj scooter has been laid to rest now. It's taking a piece of my childhood to its grave.

2 comments:

Jamie Alter said...

Guru, kya surprise diya! Kya haal hai videsh ka? When you down here next?

anil said...

Behaal hai bhai! Will be there soon. Keep writing that stuff dude, me like it.