My Sunny Days

She was the one who gave me my first whiff of freedom. Light yet nimble we manoeuvred the roads of Trivandrum. She was my silver coloured Sunny , the first major purchase I made with my own money. Cousins advised me to buy a second hand, heavier, more powerful two wheeler but I was adamant, I wanted a new vehicle and I wanted to buy it with MY money. The choice was limited with my meagre salary, only the RS10,000 Sunny could be afforded. And hence in the year 1993, a year after I graduated, I bought my first vehicle.
After days of following the huge red coloured state transport bus, stopping when it stopped and waiting patiently while passengers got down and then again following it up to the Museum, where I had to take a 100 meter detour to my office, I learnt the ropes of riding my Sunny around town. We literally flew around, she was so tiny that we would hurl down the slopes, weave through traffic and park in the tinniest of gaps. I thought of her more as an accomplice than as a vehicle, she had an identity of her own, one that was so tuned to my likes and dislikes...
But manoeuvring the heights (and Trivandrum is a city with quite a few elevations in road pattern) was where she showed her stubborn side. I started coaxing her a few 100mts before the road climbed in elevation, gathered all the momentum she offered, but as if reinforcing the fact that Bajaj had built a 50cc scooter and not a supernatural powered one, she slowed down... embarrassing the life out of me. Others in bigger vehicles would sail past me and pass jeering comments. Not that it fazed me, I would row past (I had to use my two legs to see me through such situations), without giving them a second glance proudly astride my tiny carriage.
But I have to say this, even with her stubborn streak, she did not ever let me down, she never broke down when I was in a hurry nor did she stop in mid ride. Starting her, though, was always an issue and then she was invariably helping me, getting attention from good looking blokes around, so she did serve me quite well...
When I left my job to come to Kottayam she came with me and was used by my sister and we are to date known as the sisters in Sunny.



p.s:This is just a file pic from google image, my Sunny was more beautiful in silver...

We (Sunny and me) both were at the receiving end with a few jokes made especially for us, thanks to my (then) young cousins in Trivandrum.

Some of them are here for a few laughs:
1. SINDHU didn’t need to fill petrol in the Sunny, she just took it around the petrol station and its tank would fill with the whiffs of petrol.
2. SINDHU didn’t ride she rowed her Sunny.(This was true).
3. The person who opened her petrol tank was confused...he couldn't find the engine!
4. Sunny could travel miles, if she travelled behind a car with the fumes feeding it.