Mar 25, 2011

Bye, bye Indica!

She was my husband's first car. After our wedding a couple of months later, she also became our first family car. She was there to receive me as the bride of the family and lent her quiet golden elegance to the ceremony...


She drove over 600 kms to our tiny little rented apartment a month after the wedding and we all started our new life together.

We soon found out that she had little endearing characteristics. She was afraid of thunder - when an especially strong one shook even the buildings at night, she would start wailing and we would drag ourselves out of bed to shush her back to sleep. She did the same every year during the monsoons till we built Karthika and gave her a closed garage where she could sleep peacefully.

When we had to travel abroad, she went back to Kottayam to stay with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. She attended my sister's wedding even when we could not...



When we got back, she moved with us to Thiruvananthapuram. Once again, she arrayed herself out as bridal vehicle for my sister-in-law's wedding...



She drove us to several sites in the early mornings when we hunted for a space to call our own. Our second baby came home safely ensconced in her cozy comfort. When Karthi was being built, she was there every weekend to view the progress...


Soon after the work was completed, we had to move to Pune for a year. So our little Indica took a long trip on a cargo truck to be there with us. Once again in the company of other cars in the flat, she was again the favorite haven of several cats like she had always been. And she didn't stop wailing on stormy nights. Back home last year, she happily drove us up all the way to Munnar and doesn't she look pretty among the green hills?


Last weekend, she took her final journey with us. On the first leg, we stopped at Guruvayoor and she rested at the hotel while we went to see Unnikkannan in all his glory. The next day, she purred over the hilly terrain up to Mangalore and took us to our old haunts in the city and a couple of homes that we had rented. She looked happy to once again be among the KA-19s.

Finally, this Monday, we handed her over to her new owner who admitted her to the service center to fix up a few blemishes and to spruce her up for her new life. When we all last saw her, she was hoisted up with her bonnet open and we all said laconic goodbyes to her. Afterwards at the hotel, my son and I spent several quiet minutes together till we confessed to each other how we already missed her and shed a few tears. Yes, you are just a machine, little Indica, but you took us on innumerable trips, drove us out on midnight emergencies and were part of our family for nine long years. You are so dear to our hearts that when we chose another car to join us, we selected one from your own family...




Bye, bye, Indica, our big, little car. I still can't get over the fact that you are not here any more, so I will just pretend that you are in for a well-deserved pampering spa session at the service station. May you have a wonderful life ahead of you!

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