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Enigmatic India

This blog captures the life experiences of the Enigmatic India team in the beautiful and enigmatic country of India.We capture our experiences through our writings, photos and products that depict the very essence and fabric of India.Through this platform, we invite you to join us in our journey as we explore.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Friends part ways after 10 years

...it was a difficult decision for the SMS family, however we had to part ways with our 10 year old pal & companion our Maruti 800 (AP9AC4794).

The story of our friendship dates back to 1999, when Madhu & I got married. As a young couple, our aspirations was to own our first car and the VFM(value for money) at that point of time was obviously the Maruti 800, which had been serving the nation for more than 15 years.

With whatever paltry savings we had...mind it our combined takehome during those days was only INR15,000 and the car EMI was INR 5,000 we took a big risk of acquiring our friend...a white Maruti 800. Sreekanth, GM of Varun motors, Chandu and YR Prasad friends from LearningByte International helped us during the process and with a lot of pride we drove our car back home late in the night. The next day, as most of us in the country would do...headed straight to the Hanuman Temple at Khairatabad, Hyderabad and got the puja done.

Since then we had a wonderful time for many years and lot of pretty moments fleet by when I think...some memorable ones being the drive to Nagarjuna Sagar with Ram, Pramod, Kranti, drive to Srisailam with Ram, and short drives in and around Hyderabad. The 2:00 am night drive on 30th August 2002 to the doctor when Madhu was in labour pain was the most critical one and after four days on 3 September 2002 when we drove back to home with our lovely daugther Shreya was the most enjoyable one. Multiple drives to the hospital, Shreya's doctor etc wouldnot have been comfortable without our friend. It was also around when Papaji was seriously ill at KIMS hospital, and after having seen life it saw death when he passed away. There were many other moments over next few years.

Come 2004, when my employer Oracle India extended a company car policy we got our second car a Maruti Esteem...Even then we decided not to part ways with the Maruti 800...It had a lot of emotions attached...both friends co-existed and we managed them both quite well...Everytime I took the Maruti 800 for servicing the guys would ask"Sir why donot you sell this car...you will get a good price"...but what is the price of friendship is what we always thought...

However, we realized that slowly our dependence on Maruti 800 was going down and usage was very minimal...even though I used to drive it once or twice a week...In between Nana(my father) asked me if I can send the vehicle to Orissa sothat he can keep it...however the process at RTA was so tedious that I just didnot have the enthusiasm to try a transfer...

After a lot of thought, we took a painful decision of parting ways with our friend...It needed someone who would probably take better care and use it more frequently...Though the friendship was priceless in our eyes...we finally sold our friend for INR 70,000...

Now its gone...however we will never forget those beautiful moments we cherished....Thank you Maruti Suzuki for this wonderful car....

2 comments:

  1. And that trip to Nagarjunasagar where the interiors of the new car had got stained when it sloshed through heavy rains and the window on my side was open...those innumerable trips to the Zoo park carrying little Shreya and of course, the most memorable (rather eventful) day when I was learning to drive it...one of those evenings, accompanied by my instructor, got caught in the worst traffic jam on Begumpet flyover, was still getting a hold on the ABC of a car and hit a scooter guy on the left.

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  2. @ Sandip,
    I can feel what u must have gone through:)
    I still feel you could have held on to it...as with memories like these ones attached its best meant to be preserved..
    May be one day it would have turned vintage!
    in my recent participation as an spectator to the Vintage Car Rally held in Hyd, I could see and feel the happiness & pride in the owners faces while they drove the oldies:)
    I am sure they held on to them till date for some memoirs!

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