Guess everyone has seen the movie The Roman Holiday in which Gregory Peck rides a Vespa scooter. The Bajaj is a direct descendant, giving shape to the aspirations of the middle class in the seventies and early eighties. And I still remember my late father, proudly starting his Bajaj Chetak with a flamboyant kick, asking me to ride pillion to wherever.
And my learning to ride this contraption, switching hand gears and flying off, down the lonely road to the airstrip in our small town, across the ditch and over it and bang into a rock, sailing headlong into air and landing somehow with all bones intact, the high pitched whine of the machine lying alongside.
Years later, with my newly wedded wife behind me, exploring forest trails ..
Those were the Bajaj years
Sigh
Oh yes. Sigh. Aside from flying through the air - yikes! I can feel the nostalgia for those days of youth, happiness, freedom, your new bride.....the road ahead, all bright with promise for adventuring.......who knew we'd reach a time where we spend far more time looking back along that road than we do looking ahead?
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