The Vintage 800

It was 1.30 pm when me and my friend Venkatesh took an auto and headed for Tuhinansu's house. Subhrajyoti (another buddy) was supposed to join us at a place called Kolathia, which is about 1.5 kms from Tuhinansu's house. It is supposed to be monsoon, but the sun had something else to prove. So Mr. Tuhinansu called up and briefed us with the plan. He told that he would pick all the three of us from Kolathia in his car(He is high on excitement as because these are his early driving days). So needless to say what super excitement can do. Mr. Tuhinansu happened to put the keys of house in his wallet and he very cutely forgot the wallet in his room and locked the door. We three assembled at the check point, as told by Tuhinansu, waiting for him. Just as i was buying Appy Fizz, he parked the car near the shop and with a huge smile said "jump in". I was amazed by two things. Firstly he was in his shorts and without any footwear and secondly he dared to keep the engine on for a good 6 minutes. Dared because there was a fuel hike the very previous day!!

We went to his home and he served us with the excellent news of keys inside home. The only remedy was to wait for aunty to come back. Seeing an opportunity, he said lets go for a ride. That is when i realized i too had an opportunity to get my hands on this vintage model. But he said he would let me drive on the way back. That was good enough for me. I don't remember when was the last time i had a ride in Maruti 800. So while we were all enjoying the peace in the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, I had only one thing on my mind. When do we get back and when do i get to drive this car...After some 5 odd kilometers he took a U turn and i knew it was my TIME..

He kept his word and brought the car to a halt(again the engine was on while we switched the positions!!!!). There it was in front of me, a car i had been longing to drive. I must agree it was so very different than than the Hyundai i10 that i usually drive or the Maruti Ritz that drove few times, but still it was very very comfortable. All the one and half years of my driving experience went into drains when i could not take the car off in the very first attempt. But the second time i did(though i had forgot to put the hand brakes down the first time). It did take me more than a few seconds to put the car into second gear(it was difficult to actually locate it!!), but once i did it was delightful. I drove all the way back to his home and enjoyed every single bit of it. It was all so peaceful and relaxing. I will never forget those 5 kms in my entire life and the Vintage named Maruti 800...

Thanks Tuhinansu for letting me drive, thanks Venkatesh and Subhrajyoti for making it more momorable....