The Tragedy of a Bajaj Sunny

1996 was a good year. Lots of rain, pleasant climate, no signs of global warming. Most important factor, I was 21 and fat. So was my twin brother. We were doing some professional course in the city of Cochin, the queen of arabian sea. There was rumor those days that some ad company was interested in casting this fat twin brothers in their advertisement for a bi wheeler, may be for load testing :). That was burried as a rumor only. No one talked about that for a long time. Neither were us so excited about that.

The two main characters are Pammu and Pachu. Pammu is Pramod, myself and Pachu is Prasad, my twin brother.

It was a day our institute decided to take all the batches for a one day picnic. All were asked to assemble in front of the institute without fail as early as possible. There was no excitment left behind for us twins and we were the first few to reach the spot without fail almost couple of hours prior to the journey. So were a few other batch mates. It was a pleasant morning though it was a bit cloudy. It was so early in the morning, all the shops on MG road were still closed. We were engaged in small talks with other batch mates who were already there. At this time the rich marwadi boy in our batch rode in on his Bajaj Sunny. Now for those who dont know what a Bajaj Sunny is, it was the smallest indian scooter in the subcontinent invented by Bajaj. Our eyes gleamed with excitement when we saw the Sunny scooter. He carefully parked his scooter in the parking lot and joined us. Our eyes were still fixed on the Sunny and the talk between the twins turned to Sunny. Pachu was so much into two wheelers, he owned a Royal Enfield Bullet those days. There was enough time left, before we start the trip, and not all people had come in. So Pachu decided to borrow the Bajaj Sunny for a ride. Our friend was only happy to lend it to us.

Unaware of the impending disaster we happily boarded the bi wheeler, kick started it to life and started our ride. Pachu was riding and I was the pillion rider. It was amazing that such a small vehicle is able to carry two big fat guys on it, I thought. The vehicle was almost invisible under us and quite a few pedestrians stared on us while we rode past them towards the south on MG road. We were so happy and enjoying the ride, singing and shouting. I was not very eager to ride a two wheeler but this one was quite easy to ride. I poked a finger in my brother's tummy and asked him to stop. He said "Why?" "Now its my turn, let me ride". "No after some time" Pachu replied. I was losing my patience and ordered him to stop, he stopped. He was not so happy to switch positions, but for me it was like now or never. We switched seats. Now he was the pillion rider and me the rider. Uh uh...I felt as if am going to drive a brand new Mercedez Benz. What a great feeling. Though I have not been riding a two wheeler much, I knew how to ride one. And that was my brother's worst fear also. I kicked start the engine, sat and turned the accelerator like they do on advertisements.....vroooom vroooom.......then released the brakes. The small scooter roared to life and was panting heavily, but still managed to move. I felt the speed was not so good, probably the pick up was not good. Under us the Sunny must have cursed us "You big fat idiots how am I supposed to carry such load on me???" Huh anyway.....I turned the accelerator all the way down until it wont turn anymore.....Wow i felt a sudden rush of self respect and satisfaction pumping into me. What a great thing I just did. The sunny roared and panted and vrooom it was a swift pick up......then a loud click from the accelerator handle, the engine died, Sunny stopped. "What happened" my brother demanded. "I dont know, the accelerator wont turn" I replied. "Get down" he ordered. We both got down and he started inspecting the accelerator "Pammu...you Goddamn fatso, what you did with the accelerator, the cable is broken" [The actual swearing 13 years ago in malayalam was much worse. I have refined it here] "Oh uh huh....I didnt mean to, I was just trying to pick up speed" "Hmmm dont worry I will fix it....I will ride, you move back" My heart was beating fast, I could hear it in my ears. What will we tell our friend. I was sure he was going to be mad at us. Huh.....

Pachu pulled out the cable from the accelerator, kicked the engine to life and slowly pulled the cable. The vehicle moved. Voila, it is working. He asked me to climb on, and we started to move slowly. As he pulled on the cable more the engine picked up momentum. Remember we were fat!!! He had to lean back on me so he could pull the cable. We started to enjoy the ride back, though it was some what different. It was like riding a horse. Pachu pulling the cable with one hand and now more people were staring at us and smiling. He pulled the cable hard and picked up momentum. As he leaned on me I had to lean back. I had to take support of the luggage carrier of the sunny. I leaned back and put my hands on the luggage carrier and rested. He leaned back more and I leaned back on the luggage carrier. Suddenly I felt that the luggage carrier was giving way. "Oh no stop stop" I shouted. He stopped and asked "What happened" "I think I leaned on the luggage carrier too much and it is bent" "Oh huh" "Not a thing to worry, I will fix it now" I replied. I was so proud that the solution came in a flash into my mind. Without wasting another second I pulled the luggage carrier upward. I thought I was fixing it and the luggage carrier will be back to its original state, instead silently it came off into my hands. It was broken. We looked at each other and blinked. We didnt say anything to each other. He started the vehicle and kicked on the side stand to release it. It was not our day. The side stand came off with a wail. He kicked it too hard...may be. "Aaah what is this. I cant believe this is happening" I shouted. Then I was silent. Without saying another word, I picked up the broken side stand. Now my hands are full, a broken side stand, broken luggage carrier. We started the ride back to where our friends were waiting for us.

By the time we reached there almost all other students had come and all were watching us, riding the vehicle in a very peculiar fashion. It was easy for any one to spot us. There were laughs and smiles and giggles. My brother stopped the sunny near my friend and gave him a sheepish smile. He saw Pachu pulling the cable, but he was still unaware of the side stand and the luggage carrier. I got down from the scooter, and gave him another sheepish smile of mine "Heh....we are so sorry, we didnt mean to, but it just happened" and handed over the remains of his vehicle. He blinked. Then smiled, then broke out into a laugh. We were looking at each other in surprise. We were expecting an earful from this guy and he is laughing it. "Thats ok no problem, I will get it fixed, you guys dont worry"

Then later my brother and another friend of ours carried the remains of the Sunny to a near by friend's house, where they deposited the mortal remains in safe custody until we were back from the picnic.

I learnt that later he tasked some guys to pick up the vehicle parts and got it fixed. Months later I saw him speeding on MG road on the same Sunny. Long live the sunny. Today 13 years later, I believe that sunny must have been burried somewhere and resting in peace.

Dreaming in a dream....

Tired and exhausted, I squatted on the shoulder of the dirt road. I leaned back on the dirty milestone gazing at the setting Sun. I knew it would be dark very soon. In winter, days were always too short. Looking away from the setting Sun I looked down to where the dirt road lead. It was already dark and I squinted in the dark. The dirt road was unusually empty. Seemingly unused. I was fighting fatigue. Drowsiness crept in, I gave up and dossed off.

"One cheese omlette sandwich and Orange juice pls", I placed the order and looked around. The waiter hurried towards the kitchen. The place was surprisingly empty. It was a small but cozy food joint. While I sat there drumming my fingers on the steel table, I was thinking about the next course of my journey. I could see from the corner of my eye, the waiter hurrying towards me balancing a tray containing my food.

An ear splitting blast, my face was beginning to get wet, the waiter is gone. I sat bolt upright there. I was completely soaked. It took a good amount of time for my brains to register the situation. The blast was thunder and I am soaked in rain. I was still sitting on the shoulder of the unpaved mud road in a pool of muddy rain water. Another flash of lightning showed me the entire landscape. My eyes followed the flash of light trying to see every bit of the landscape. At this point, am beginning to think how disastrous it could be if a lightning struck me. There were no shelters. Not even tall trees to shield me. Sitting bolt upright there, am the tallest thing on the ground now. Another lightning could emerge out of the clouds any time. I have to decide fast. As if pushed by some one I crept to my left and rolled over. I was stopped by something soft and puffy. It was pitch dark and I could not see anything. I squinted in the dark. Could it be a reptile? A chill went down my spine. I gathered all my energy and rolled hard to my left. I was falling.

There was a muted thud. I fell a foot down on a hard surface. I laid there for a while trying to learn what had happened to me. I woke up from my dream. While the lightning woke me from my dream inside dream, falling from the bed woke me from my outside dream. I pulled myself up and crawled into the bed. I was kickin n rolling under the big furry blanket. I crawled from under the blanket and sat on the edge of my bed. The curtains were still not drawn but I could make out it was a cloudy morning.......

The story goes like that. This post can be considered as a prologue to my previous post. While the former was a true incident, the latter is completely fabricated :) I never fell down from the cot. No never!!!

The soft and puffy thing that stopped me from rolling was the pillow I usually keep on my left.

Rainy Weekend

The start of second week of this November was not so exciting. It was a late Sunday morning and I was still in my bed kickin n rolling, unable to decide whether to get out of my bed and start the day or to curl up there under my huge furry blanket. The curtains were still not drawn but I could make out it was a cloudy morning. I loved rain, but I hated the idea of starting a day by looking out of my window into a dark rainy day. A morning filled with sunlight was always so exciting. Sunlight filtered through the window at the far end of my hall the moment I drew the curtains and it instantly cheered me up. But not this Sunday. It was a cloudy day. Finally I made up my mind. I decided to get out of the bed and start the day. I crawled from under the blanket, sat up at the edge of my bed and put my feet down. I didnt feel anything coz my feet were still firmly planted on the warmth of the small carpet just beside the cot. With much difficulty I pulled myself up to my feet and stood up. I tried to walk, but I was groggy. I started walking towards the bathroom, I put my foot on the bare tiled floor. It was like I stepped on to a nail board. The floor was ice cold. Luckily I found my toilet slippers next to the small carpet, which I carelessly left the previous night before I dozzed off. The first thing I do every morning is walk into the hall, draw the curtains and let the sunlight seep in. But there is no Sun out there this day. I knew it. The mood was sulky. Instead of walking into the hall, I marched into the bathroom and got myself engaged in the morning "rituals".

A mug of hot coffee was the best way to rev up the mood. I walked into my small but cozy kitchen. Now you all know how coffee is made. I made coffee the same way everyone else makes it too. I walked into my hall towards my computer table, coffee mug in one hand. Started the computer, carefully placed the coffee mug on my left hand side of the table and waited for the computer to boot up. It was not too early in the day so I found some of my friends online. There comes the first message....

Friend: "Hey whats up..? Had your breakfast??"
Me: "Hmmm just got up yar......havin ma coffee...where are you?"
Friend: "I am in my room......howz your weekend?"
Me: "..oh..hmm ...my weekend.....its a wet weekend yar....oh huh...i mean a rainy weekend"