Hamara ‘Baa Jaaaj’…



Thirty-five years ago, when my uncle bought a Bajaj Chetak scooter, many came to see it. “Please don’t apply front brake, the vehicle will skid, and you may fall,” said one. “Green is nice,” another one said, praising the colour of the scooter. “Can you handle it?,” an elderly couple asked my uncle, taking a dig at his short stature. He laughed and checked the orange colour indicator of the schooter, the way a child learns about digits. One, two, three, four… When he turned the switch on, the light blinked, like a melting orange chocolate. Soon, his wife, who is taller than him, came to the front yard. She was fond of scooters as her father had a Lambretta. Even though many raised comments, no one tried to read the name of the brand which manufactured the scooter.
The aunt rose to the occasion, after looking at the scooter. “BAA … JAAAJ,” she whispered. A little boy who was standing near her heard this and he tried to correct her, Aunty, it’s Bajaj, not BAA JAAJ.” Aunt smiled; a fresh yellow cloth tied on the sidemirror flew in the wind.
The scooter had a dried garland made of jasmine around its headlamp. Marks of sandal paste covered the silvery letters of the name of the brand, Bajaj. A puja was performed in the evening, and uncle fell off the scooter while negotiating a hump in the night. It was not because of applying the hand-brake, but he was unable to control the vehicle. A couple of weeks passed, and uncle started crossing 50 kmph on the speedometer. It was raining, and uncle fell off his scooter again while negotiating a pothole. People blamed his short stature for the falls.
A couple of months passed, and uncle started crossing 60 kmph on speedometer. He also started riding with a pillion. For uncle, life without the scooter was unthinkable. Aunty got her pronunciation right after removing the extra ‘A’s from the name. People were not keen on aunt’s pronunciation, but her frequent 'pillion-riding' disturbed them. “Oh, she is taller than him even though he uses the front seat which is higher than the pillion one,” they said. Uncle didn’t bother. He kept on increasing the speed of his scooter to avoid such utterances. 
(Illustration: Mihika Saju, my daughter)

Comments

Salil said…
Good one. Enjoyed reading it
3:17 am
mtsaju said…
Thanks, Salil
4:29 am
Krish -Krishnamoorthy Venkataraman said…
Excellent. Congratulations 🎉 Sir. Best wishes to Mehika.
4:07 am
mtsaju said…
thanks a lot
6:15 am
Unknown said…
Good. She did good job
5:53 pm
mtsaju said…
Thanks
11:53 pm
gopakumar said…
Nice and sweet Saju, reminded me of the Bajaj Chetak which changed my life
11:19 pm
mtsaju said…
Thanks,Gopa
8:22 am
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