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.