Life on Two Wheels: Nostalgic

Search in your porch, backyard, godown, you will find a piece of machine in this fashion. Talk to your father, they’ll be nostalgic with the first scooter of their life. The iconic brand to put Indians on the running machine is stopping scooter production. We had spoken about Maruti and how it changed the car market of India. But the real change was brought by Bajaj.

In late 1970’s or early 1980’s as Indian society was getting educated and looking to make life in urban districts. Though today’s rural are better off than 1980’s urbans. But still our parents and grandparents will be nostalgic with the above logo and the tagline Hamara Bajaj.

Buland Bharat ki buland tasveer,

Hamara Bajaj, Hamara Bajaj.

Some of our uncle’s may talk about the Lambretta, the Italian two wheeler, which was taken to fancy. Of course, Lambretta was not as sexy as seen in picture, especially because of the noise it created. Skeleton of Labretta (picture below).

I had my first ride on Lambretta. It has its special place but I have more fond memories with Bajaj. It was Bajaj scooter which changed the landscape of two-wheeler market of India.

People thumped their chests with pride whenever they showed their shining Bajaj Scooter to people/neighborhood standing in porch or the street. They would spend hours cleaning and shining (though there were no shiny metallic shades in those times) their Bajaj scooter. Nowadays we don’t even bother or feel half the excitement as our parents, even after buying a sedan car.

Owning a Bajaj scooter was their biggest achievement in life. Especially when the manufacturer had license to manufacture limited number of scooters and every upper class/middle class Indian wanted one in their porch/drawing room. You need to book a Bajaj scooter for months in advance, call influential people to ensure the scooter is delivered on time.

As a kid, I would fight with my brother to allow me to stand in front of the scooter holding the handle. It was pure fun. Oops for the next generation, it means standing on a running scooter between the driver and the handle. No doubt, I’d lose to my brother in the beginning as he was taller and I ran the risk of banging my face on the handle. Later when he got taller to distract diver with his height, I had chance to stand with my father but then my father bought his first car by that time. But then I’d pursue my parents not to take my brother.

Riding on scooter was fun. Playing and imitating the ridiculous boring scooter sounds/noises with themovement of the hands was another activity for recreation. Playing all the innocent child indoor games perched on the scooter instead of sitting at home. If father noticed, he would scold, remove your shoes or get down from the scooter; you are scratching my baby with your shoes.

One of the ultra compressed fusion version of scooter and moped, SUNNY was launched by Bajaj in mid 1990’s. Sachin Tendulkar was the Brand Ambassador. Sunny was amongst the first few gearless scooter in India. It was like a small genset engine fitted in a bigger toy.

Sunny was made from plastic and would shout and cry even if two people exceeding 40 kgs would sit on it. I can bet on it, it’d move if a 60 kg person sat on Sunny. It was more of a sport for kids and teens for parents who were cautious in handing over their kids a gear scooter. The first machined vehicle that I ever drove in my life.

The scooter in the picture above is amongst the latest model of scooter launched by Bajaj under Bajaj Chetak trademark. School and college life was fun because of the Bajaj scooter. Especially in school, after cycle, Bajaj scooter was single biggest elevation step in life. You progress and move ahead. When all your fellow cyclist classmates are holding your shoulder with one hand and another hand on bicycle and first shoulder by second hand and so on and you are practically helping half a dozen friends to ride on their own bicycles without peddling.

Then came the college life, when your scooter becomes a car. You don’t even remember how many times only you or two had taken ride on it. At least three or at times four and stealing petrol from others scooter to feed the gas guzzling two wheeler. Actually Bajaj was amongst the most efficient but unfortunately in comparison to bikes, scooters couldn’t match the efficiency of bikes. You approach your first love with Bajaj scooter by your side. Standing at the other end of the narrow bylane of the girl’s house and waiting for the girl you wish to propose or your girlfriend, only Bajaj scooter was my partner in my tryst of destiny.

For impressing girls, LML Vespa was significantly helpful as it was stylish and more associated with youth. So I would borrow my friend’s LML at times to chase the girls.

Besides making love stories successful, Bajaj helped and contributed immensely towards building homes. It helped people move across their daily needs on this scooter. Carrying and dropping their loved ones from one part to other part of the city. Driving Bajaj was fun and everybody who owned a scooter had a smile on his/her face.

Riding with the family on scooter. Man, wife and their two/three kids. This inspired Mr. Ratan Tata to develop One Lac Rupee car for the middle class population of India. It was a truly Indian scooter designed for use for an Indian family unlike Vespa or Lambretta. Bajaj had a carriage in the front, storage side on the left rear, a stepny on the back for holding the family onto the scooter.

As a mode of transportation, shopkeepers, SME owners ferried and marketed their goods on Bajaj scooter. Bikes are incapable to perform such onerous tasks of carrying goods. Bajaj ruled the roost with the carriages and boxes can be piled on any side of this scooter, front, back, side, between the legs. At times, the driver would be seen driving with his leg dangling in the air, folded and piled on top of the box, stretching the leg on top of the boxes with the little space to apply brakes on the right side.

Now the world has moved and so have the expectations of the people. Even Bollywood makes use of the Bajaj scooter to indicate the bechara (pitiable) condition of their protagonist. I have not reference, but still notice the brilliant colours of Bajaj Scooter. Nobody can think of driving anything if presented in these colours. It was also another striking feature of Bajaj scooter.

Later Bajaj introduced heavy and more macho scooter like Bajaj Legend. But people still have memories with the original Bajaj or their longest running range of Chetak scooters. The word Chetak is symbolic as it is derived from the name of horse of Maharana Pratap, who was thought to be the fastest and most efficient horse of Indian history.

Times change, motives change, a new world order emerges. Now the Bajaj’s logo has gone for complete overhaul with the younger generation taking charge of the company and the market. The scooters portfolio has been replicated by the bikes. In future, even bikes will be replaced by cars.

Mr. Rahul Bajaj, the Chairman of Bajaj Auto Ltd., the man who put India on wheels is not happy (we should be mentioning sad here) with the MD’s decision to completely stop the production of scooters. Rajeev Bajaj, the elder son of Mr. Rahul Bajaj is the Managing Director of Bajaj Auto Ltd.

Rajeev Bajaj is clear, businesses are not built on emotions but rational business decisions. Rahul Bajaj says it is not about emotions, “I care less for the solution from emotions, I believe more in the magic of logic”. Its OK, Mr Bajaj, there’s no logic, we are also emotional and nostalgic about our Bajaj scooter. The press note should not mean much. As practically two or three years back, Bajaj had stopped production of scooters. In future, one or two rare Bajaj scooters one may find will be as seen under:

P.S.: You can watch the commercials of Bajaj on www.vido4veit.com, which will take us through the journey of emotions, India of 1980’s and 1990’s, how our society has evolved. The stories and characters we lived through our childhood.

SECURITY or INSECURITY

Must have seen the above pictures last week. Infosys is happy and thankful for the Govt. to provide CISF (Central Industrial Security Force). CISF personnel are happy to lend a helping hand to the Corporates and particularly Infosys.

Infosys chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy quoted,
“I would like to thank the central government, the home ministry, and the state government for helping us get the security services of CISF personnel”

CISF Inspector General R.K. Mishra was also elated and elaborated,
“This is for the first time since its creation in 1969 that the CISF will be providing security cover to a corporate organization. We are pleased and proud to be entrusted with the responsibility of security at Infosys.”

“CISF will act as an arms support. Our main task is to delay, deny and neutralize any possible terror strike in Infosys. We'll provide unobtrusive and inclusive security cover, and regular security cover of the Infosys will be done by the existing security personnel of the company.”


Govt. feels that is the best solution, they can offer/give to corporates because of terrorist threats to blow up their business establishments. Do we (as citizen of India) feel is it correct to provide security cover to the Corporates like that? Gradually it will extended to the entire Electronic City. 79 other corporate have sought security cover from Home Ministry for their business establishments.

I am against this idea not because of the costs and expenditure to the Govt. Infosys because of its principles and practices are ready to bear the cost. But do we believe that businesses can be run by holding up like a fortress? Like the dispute in Nandigram, Mr. Buddhdeb Bhattacharya was ready to offer all the support to Ratan Tata and provide police protection to the plant. Mr. Ratan Tata said businesses cannot be run under police security. We are not at WAR.

But the CISF security in front of all the big campus houses creates an atmosphere like that only as if we are fighting the insurgency all the time. I know and understand I have lived in those terrorist active days of Punjab and we had bunkers built of heavy steel outside my colony. As a kid, I questioned my mum why they are always standing there. Are they going to kill us? My mum explained to me that they are here to shield us and provide us security. Somehow over a period of time, we got used to their presence.

To tell you honestly, when the CISF was taken off from that point that was the time when we felt really safe and secure. Their presence brought anxiety and insecurity within us.

Is this what Govt. has in place to provide security to us or the solution they can provide?

This is American way of fighting terrorism. You cannot convert the country into a fortress and then say, yes this is what we have done best for our nation?

I got really uncomfortable with the deployment of armed guards at Churchgate Station after 26/11. I know Govt. is doing this for our security. I could also have been the victim of 26/11. Why can’t we get into process where we can try to ensure and insure that nothing of that sort happens again? Instead the Govt. does not even feel threatened. The presence of armed guards only arouses anxiety and insecurity in our mind and hearts of a citizen.

Taj Mahal Hotel & Palace was under attack on 26/11. Look at the street which houses this Hotel. It was one of the most famous landmark in India and lakhs of people flocked the place daily. It is lonely and desolute, still carrying the marks of 26/11. It is never going to be same again. Due to fear of a terrorist activity in future, the Govt. is victimizing itself and the citizens of this country.

Mr. Ratan Tata can claim and say that they have destroyed the greeting lobby of Taj Hotel for the security of their patrons. They have armed gaurds on one side and metal detectors on the other side. But do they all this, they can make the experience of their guests arriving in sedan cars enjoyable? They have bitterness when they are made to stretch their arms before entering the hotel and pay thousands for a meal.

I don’t know what is the real situation to this problem since it is coming from somewhere else? India always needs to find an Indian solution rather than follow the American way.

I know many may not agree with my opinion. We need to support Pakistan along with some of the international Aid agencies and UN. It is a point of inflexion and may end in a worse position than Afghanistan or Iraq. Where they had dictators with one single approach and focus? But in Pakistan there are radicalists, fundamentalists, revolutionaries, fanatics, pimps, America.

So you see all the monsters are present at one place.

So you need to drive them out, kill them, bully them, sully them or channelize their focus. I don’t know but the approach should be different from the one we are following now.

Thomas Friedman has very aptly said in his last book, Hot, Flat and Crowded a small brief with context to an American embassy in Africa, “where Birds can’t Fly”. America has built its embassy into a fortress on a hill. Nobody can walk into the embassy for a form even. Even if a bird appears in its vicinity it is shot dead to subvert any kind of terrorist activity. Terrorists tried to attack the embassy all they could was strike a jeep of explosives against the lower end of one of the thickest stone walls in the world.

We need to understand, this is not security. It is called INSECURITY. You are alienating yourself from your peers, yourself and the World.

You don’t have windows, you cannot have fresh air. Everything is locked to ward of terrorists. But mind you they are right there in your drawing room, in your minds. Few years down the line we would be fighting with our paranoid minds. The fear in our mind will be intruding our PEACE and LIFE.