WORLD OF 2-WHEELERS (31-July-2020)

A person’s fascination for 2-wheelers can remain dormant but can never fade away.  In my case, I can be ensconced in a technology-laden luxury 4-wheeler, but my eyes instinctively tracks a new 2-wheeler that whizzes past to drool at its looks and marvel at its design!  The day had arrived in my life to buy a new scooter for my daughter.  At the dealership as I researched a surfeit of choices, I drifted into a stupor…

TVS-50 moped with its stunning looks was first introduced onto the Indian roads around 1980.  A narrow menu of scooter and moped choices had made teenagers yearn for more, but our succour resorted to posters and images in auto-magazines.  Mopeds Suvega and Luna ruled the roads though limited in number; the launch of TVS-50 created waves.  Novel technical design aspects in this moped – start clutch, choke, an off button, a new seat-design and a few more - made it attractive for the young generation.

We friends had stepped into our pre-university days and visited the one and only dealership in Mysore, to stare at a solo TVS-50 on display to feast our eyes.  We befriended the sales person who in the absence of the manager, started the engine for us.  A jaw-dropping experience for us as we squat on the floor and listened to the murmur of the engine and a characteristic silencer sound.  We paid frequent visits which gave confidence to the salesperson to qualify us as ‘potential customer.’  He allowed us to start the engine on our own; a unique feel that has played and replayed many-a-times in some corner in my memory bank.  My joy knew no bounds when my father consented to buy me a TVS-50; post purchase, I was so enamored that sometimes I parked it next to me in my room.

My younger brother and I went through a few more machines over the years in the form of moped, scooter, motorbike, and eventually to a car.  The thrill associated with the purchase of 2-wheelers to meet our growing needs was evident; as a constant companion for the additions and deletions to our stable, what stood like a behemoth was our father’s beloved Vespa scooter.  We graduated from a family of 4 all packed on that Vespa scooter, to an additional 2 mopeds – one for my brother and the other one for self to take us around.  A few skids here and a couple of accidents there did not deter us from our romance with the 2-wheelers.

The double whammy in the form of a roar from an engine-start of a vehicle and my daughter who elbowed me, it jolted me back to real-life.  Faced with a variety of brands and variants and colors of choice, it was not an easy pick to select the right one for my daughter.  Quickly my mind jogged back once again to the purchase day at the dealership; the narrow choice of colors had left me dejected but reconciled to the fact that I had to endure a waiting period of 3 months to win over my favorite red one.   My father and I brought home the beauty which stayed with me, throughout in a pristine condition for 6-7 years.

Now many years later as I ran behind my daughter as she drove around on her brand-new vehicle to navigate the traffic on our tricky roads, I deduced that my romance with 2-wheeler world stays unabated.  Mesmerized to say the least!