Hamara Bajaj kahan gaya?

The captivating ad jingle for Hamara Bajaj went off air maybe a year ago, but what was more disheartening was to learn that Bajaj was also winding up its scooter business after ruling the roost in India for as long as I can remember.

What happened to the ‘Buland Bharat ki buland tasveer’ (part of the lyrics of the Bajaj scooter’s ad jingle which means – ‘a fortifying image of a strong nation’) which we had all come to believe in?

For decades Bajaj was a synonym for scooter in India just as Colgate had become a synonym for toothpaste. Of course there were other brands such as Hero Honda, TVS, and maybe a few more but mention the word scooter and it would always be a Bajaj Scooter that one would recall.

It struck me yesterday that there are no scooters to be seen on the roads of Bangalore (the city where I live now) leave alone a Bajaj scooter. There was a pang of sadness when I realized that one of the trademark products which lined my childhood will soon be erased from the real world and will reside only in my memories of yester years.

One of the earliest memories I have is that of my Dad’s scooter which he bought after a waiting period of 4 years since its booking, in Chandigarh. It was a yellow scooter which he purchased through the Army’s special booking quota in 1976, a year before I was born.
Our family of four (including my younger sister) would go for long rides on the scooter. I would stand in the front holding on to the arms of the scooter while my sister would be seated between my dad and my mom. Catching breeze in my hair I would enjoy the unrestricted view of the road ahead.
My dad was among the few who had a vehicle of his own and so it came as a rude shock when one day the scooter was stolen from our open garage which was supposedly ‘protected’ as we stayed within the army cantonment area. The loss was inconsolable and our colony was abuzz with the news of this theft.

Dad was particularly broken hearted. I think it was after 6 months or so that he bought another scooter, a Bajaj Super, steel grey colour. This scooter served us well from 1983 to 1998 (while I was still doing my B.E.). The scooter added more special memories. We never really missed having a car but now it wasn’t possible for all four of us to sit at one go, so dad would make round trips to pick up in batches.

I remember how Dad and I explored Bangalore city soon after he was posted here, on the scooter. We must’ve done 40 Kms that day as Dad drove from central Bangalore to the eastern parts and back.

My dad enjoys traveling a lot and most of the time he would take off without informing my mom, causing quite a flutter back home since there were no mobile phones those days to keep track of your missing husband. He enjoys riding a 2-wheeler more than a 4-wheeler, proof of which is apparent from his sun burnt face just below the rim of the helmet, and badly tanned arms.

In 1998 we sold my TVS Luna and dad’s Bajaj scooter since we got a TVS scooty, a gearless scooter, besides having a car. But from there on Dad and I didn’t go around painting the town red the old way.

I asked him how he felt on hearing that Bajaj isn’t making scooters anymore. He wasn’t in a melancholic mood unlike me. In fact he looked at it practically and said good old scooters were anyways long dead. “It’s a good thing,” he said, “bikes and power scooters are anyways what people are buying now.”

Taking solace from his point of view I said to myself, “Some things don’t last forever… pity we all have to grow up some time.”