I bought this car in Russia to commute around... Ok, let me first give the proper background. Personally, I'm against mobility beyond the necessary and prefer rooting down to my couch with a 700 page book in my hand - and avoid any kind of outing that demands exercise of locomotion in my lower limbs.. beyond the absolute necessity, I mean!
So I bought this car to fulfil that absolute necessity and also because elders urged me to. Russian cold, expensive taxi, dangerous public transportation etc etc. But 45 days after the purchase, I can hardly remember when I used it for any purpose other than making some global noise about the naming ceremony and miscellaneous small trips I made. I decided to name it Chameli after an election among friends!
But I hardly feel like using the car, coz I still don't get this feeling of 'my car' when I'm inside... It looks just like a big mistake, green in color and accumulated dirt, whenever I look at it.... And I wonder why! U kno wot i mean? It does not feel like my car back in India, that is resting in peace for the past 4 months, or my bike that is no longer mine...
Let me tell you about this bike.
I had a cool Yamaha RX-135... my first and dearest possession!
I parked it outside a used bike dealer's (shady establishment, as I bleakly remember) and totally forgot about it. I mean, I just left it there and somehow I didn't remember to get it back... a period of time passed - may be a day, or a month or a few more, I can't seem to remember how long! Then I remembered about the bike and went back, but it wasn't there! I mean, I just walk upto the place where it was supposed to be, but there were some other bikes and mine wasn't there! I ran around, checked each bike, hesitated a lot to go inside and ask the goon of a used-bike dealer and finally decided against it. I kept going back to this place several times, each time hoping to see my bike exactly where I parked it! But it simply wasn't there...
I felt this extreme sense of bereavement... like I was suddenly orphaned, and lost everything and everyone and I'm alone and I somehow knew that the big bad goon inside took my bike... there is no way I can go back to him to demand my bike back, because it was my mistake I forgot about it! Gosh, how could I forget about my bike like this!! I cursed myself, helpless, hesitant to take action....
And I stand outside that shop one day wondering what I had done... and crying for my bike!
Yes... you guessed it right. This is actually a dream, a nightmare actually! I had this reccurring dream a few times in the past year or may be before...
In reality, I had to sell my bike a few years ago to a used bike dealer in Sultan Bazar, Hyderabad in a certain hour of extreme need. I didn't realise I was so attached to it, or I wouldn't have sold it for the paltry sum I got... And my subconcious keeps reminding me of the loss and this missing aspect of my life once in a while!
That was afterall my first material possession - something that was truly mine. The first major purchase I made, when I started earning - 7 years ago. I read a bike magazine review of 2 stroke bikes once and loved what they said about the pungent fumes of a two stroke exhaust... So I defied all advice and bought an extinct technology which gives less than half of the top mileage the market... And I loved this bike! The pickup, the headrush, the low seat and sleek shape... I never let anyone overtake me on the road, when I rode it! Only a fellow yamaha rider could pass me and if any of those inferior-powered, new-age 4 stroke bikes attempted (those wer the days of 100 cc hero honda bikes), I'd show them their place with all the contempt they deserved! I was the King when I was with my Yamaha!
When I sold the bike, one of my friends was using it and I already had my car for a year by then. I used to tell people that the bike was my first wife! I guess at a platonic level, I did believe that... yeah, yeah laugh all you can! You don't know what it meant to me!
So... Chameli is out of my scheme of things because, I don't feel even a hundreth of that connection with this machine. Yes, it is a good car and a good buy and all that. But it isn't mine! So out it goes.... for whatever it is worth!
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