Courtship And The Lady In Red

My rusty red Pulsar has had many suitors in its 11 yrs of existence.

Its first owner,  Jolly, drove it while he was in college, and as is his nature, moved on to the next big thing ( a sedan) immediately after. Post which, he literally donated it to me, his destitute brother.

It was actually more of a coup than a handover, because my dad won't let me drive it, and would say "U manage with the Bajaj Chetak", thus hurting my ego and making me feel insignificant. So one day I took it out for a spin- To my college 13 kms away. This little maoist style rebellion, it seems, was my initiation rite because since then my ownership of the bike has been unquestioned (even though the paperwork still says Jolly)

Then when I went to Bangalore, I could identify a need for the bike- It would give girls some respite from the unforgiving Bangalorean traffic. But as they chose a difficult life for themselves, that never happened.

Instead my dear friend Devarshi adorned the pillion seat for the best part of two years. And what times they were!

From the daily breakfast at the idliwala uncle, to stopping highway traffic for a matchbox, this bike has  accompanied us everywhere.

When I left bangalore it stayed with dev for a while and then was brought back to bombay, where it hibernated for about an year. After which it again accompanied me to work for a brief while. Then, obviously, mba happened.

Here the ownership was more or less divided the whole wing. Anybody and everybody could take her as long as they filled some petrol. Talk about pimping your ride, eh?

But mostly it was used by Daya to take around girls, where its calling to bangalore was finally satisfied.

It was shunned by many as old and rusty and not worthy of clinging on to. And for a while I did consider selling it, but one thing became certain. It will be retained for long.. not for practicality, but only for nostalgia.

Ps: Of late, she has found a new companion-a miss! This miss decided the pillion was not so comfortable after all, so why not move to the drivers seat. My lady in red is still not very comfortable with the new touch but is learning fast and adjusting like she always does!