About 2 months ago I got a four wheeler and this blog is all about my experience with my wonderful car. If I am to do justice in narrating my vehicular experiences, I should start with the story of how I got it. Spring quarter had ended and it was the onset of summer. Most of the desi population was preparing to make a trip to India and I had to start my internship soon. So far so good, but the only catch in this pleasant scenario was that the office was almost 14 miles away from where I lived and public transit options were almost non-existent. A daily cab ride was proving to be heavy on my pockets and I knew I had to fix myself a ride. Thus began my search for a car. My criteria for a car was anything which has 4 operational wheels, moves forward and backward, is fuel efficient and lasts about 6 months. At the moment my brother told me that one of his friends is giving away his vehicle and it was quite old with a mileage which is comparable to Forrest Gump's run. The best part of the deal was that the vehicle was absolutely "Free"!! It's not every day that someone offers a car for free and I quickly jumped on the deal. All I had to do was have it transported to my place. I made all the arrangements to have it brought to me and it was costing me one quarter of the price of an used car. So that was how I got my vehicle. 
The car arrived and I was asked to pick it up from the carrier. Little did I know that I was in for a surprise. On arriving I saw a blue Suzuki Swift in the parking lot. The vehicle was quite old and appeared to have run through a war zone. I looked at it and hoped that it was not my vehicle. But at that moment my luck ran out as it was indeed my car ! I was pretty disappointed with it as I always saw myself driving a posh car. Well now there was no backing out and I signed the release forms and set out to ride my car for the very first time. I looked at my keys and was frantically searching the buttons to disarm the auto cop and remotely unlock the doors when the vehicle delivery guy told me "dude, do you seriously think it has all that!!?" . I gave him a foolish grin and grabbed the door handle and yanked the door. I got into the car and checked out the cloth seats and controls.It had a cassette player and a radio and it was all screaming out the age of the car. I turned on the AC and out came a blast of hot air! I thought that I had toggled the wrong switch and set the temperature control to point the red part of the scale and was hit in the face by more hot air. Well it's better to be warm in winter than not have AC in summer, or so I thought. I released the hand break and shifter the car into drive, for a moment nothing happened!! then the car began moving slowly as if it was preparing itself for a really fast ride. The only thing I can correlate to is the launch of a rocket, after the countdown ends it usually take a few moments before you see it move and I felt like an astronaut. But the only difference was that this vehicle showed no signs of speeding up even after a 300 feet!! But once it got going it went to a good speed of 65mph before the engine started making a weird sound which can be called mechanical sobbing. Well so far so good, I had a vehicle and it served its primary purpose of carrying me to and from work.
The next day I took the vehicle to office and cautiously parked it in a remote corner of the parking lot. I took care to see that no one noticed me exiting the vehicle. But when you are driving a Suzuki swift it's does turn a lot of heads for many reasons. My colleague saw the vehicle and spread the word around. And ever since jokes of the Swift has been a regular feature.It's almost become a recreational sport for most of the people,myself included. It has been called a 'go-cart' and 'buggy' as it's the only economy class vehicle around here ! This has also evoked a debate among my colleagues as to how I get my car rolling. While some of them believe I do a 'yaba daba doo' like the Flintstones others think I catapult myself with a giant rubber band stretched between two poles!! It's also been said that if I need to run the AC I have to stop the car as I can't do both and not break the vehicle . It is a good ice breaker too!! Every once in a while I start off a conversation with a joke about my car.
With all the shortcomings my car has I believe that it has more to offer than just being a car. Not only has it been operating without any hitches it has also been a means of building contacts(people are usually curious about the vehicle). The experience has been pleasant until now and the Swift will always have a special place in my heart as my first car.I like my car and I'm glad I got a Swift albeit not by choice!
The car arrived and I was asked to pick it up from the carrier. Little did I know that I was in for a surprise. On arriving I saw a blue Suzuki Swift in the parking lot. The vehicle was quite old and appeared to have run through a war zone. I looked at it and hoped that it was not my vehicle. But at that moment my luck ran out as it was indeed my car ! I was pretty disappointed with it as I always saw myself driving a posh car. Well now there was no backing out and I signed the release forms and set out to ride my car for the very first time. I looked at my keys and was frantically searching the buttons to disarm the auto cop and remotely unlock the doors when the vehicle delivery guy told me "dude, do you seriously think it has all that!!?" . I gave him a foolish grin and grabbed the door handle and yanked the door. I got into the car and checked out the cloth seats and controls.It had a cassette player and a radio and it was all screaming out the age of the car. I turned on the AC and out came a blast of hot air! I thought that I had toggled the wrong switch and set the temperature control to point the red part of the scale and was hit in the face by more hot air. Well it's better to be warm in winter than not have AC in summer, or so I thought. I released the hand break and shifter the car into drive, for a moment nothing happened!! then the car began moving slowly as if it was preparing itself for a really fast ride. The only thing I can correlate to is the launch of a rocket, after the countdown ends it usually take a few moments before you see it move and I felt like an astronaut. But the only difference was that this vehicle showed no signs of speeding up even after a 300 feet!! But once it got going it went to a good speed of 65mph before the engine started making a weird sound which can be called mechanical sobbing. Well so far so good, I had a vehicle and it served its primary purpose of carrying me to and from work.
The next day I took the vehicle to office and cautiously parked it in a remote corner of the parking lot. I took care to see that no one noticed me exiting the vehicle. But when you are driving a Suzuki swift it's does turn a lot of heads for many reasons. My colleague saw the vehicle and spread the word around. And ever since jokes of the Swift has been a regular feature.It's almost become a recreational sport for most of the people,myself included. It has been called a 'go-cart' and 'buggy' as it's the only economy class vehicle around here ! This has also evoked a debate among my colleagues as to how I get my car rolling. While some of them believe I do a 'yaba daba doo' like the Flintstones others think I catapult myself with a giant rubber band stretched between two poles!! It's also been said that if I need to run the AC I have to stop the car as I can't do both and not break the vehicle . It is a good ice breaker too!! Every once in a while I start off a conversation with a joke about my car.
With all the shortcomings my car has I believe that it has more to offer than just being a car. Not only has it been operating without any hitches it has also been a means of building contacts(people are usually curious about the vehicle). The experience has been pleasant until now and the Swift will always have a special place in my heart as my first car.I like my car and I'm glad I got a Swift albeit not by choice!
Really funny and insightful. The whole experience could have been mine, but you were the more fortunate one. I dont want to jinx it but great it is still running without a breakdown for the last 10 months.
ReplyDeleteI really like your colleagues comments. Flintstones reference is by far the best and funniest.
ReplyDeleteyou could have bought a cycle; daily 44 km of cycling would have been a great way to exercise.
ReplyDelete