Just chilling with a Mahindra Gusto

Report: P.Tharyan Photography: Mohd Nasir

I was bugged with all kinds of deadlines...Deadlines for paying my bills, deadlines for filing my reports, deadlines for getting funds, deadlines for paying my income tax, et al. I was tired too. I was tired of listening to lies, tired of false promises, tired of calls from PR agencies trying to sell me a story idea, tired of begging for vehicles to test drive and also tired of my 20 something correspondent Joshua David Luther telling me I was getting old. I had to rush out and scream....I had to rid myself of this monotonous, boring and dreary lifestyle I was leading. I had to break myself free from the shackles of boredom. It was then I remembered that I had the new Mahindra Gusto scooter lying at my place.

Joshua had done a test ride of this scooter at Khimsar in Rajasthan. There was no point reviewing it again. I rushed home and cleaned the scooter and got it back to its shining self. It had hardly been parked for a couple of days and it was covered in a thick layer of dust. Now it was ready to move and ride me out of my mundane thoughts.

I inserted the key in its slot. The electric start button got the two-wheeler purr to life. Off I went to a place I knew. I cut through the traffic with ingenuity like a fleet footed athlete. The scooter was beginning to impress me with its manoeuvring abilities and its torque. No gears to change and no super hot engine to burn a hole in your thighs. Effortlessly I rode on unmindful of the distance. I could see my lens man Mohd Nasir capturing every moment with his Canon EOS 7D. For him it was an assignment he could not afford to miss.

I felt my youth rushing back. I lifted my tired legs and giggled like a kid in senior school. I kept my helmet on. A stickler for rules, I never compromise on safety. While there are all kinds of four letter words we use in our life time, there is one I dread the most--- “COMA”. Jules Bianchi, Michael Schumacher....driving accidents can really mess up your life, better safe than sorry, they say.

Mounds of gravel lying by the side of the road triggered my passions further. Youthful fervour gripped me like two strong arms around a slender waist. I rode the scooter on top of the mound. Just like that. No real purpose but to satisfy my child like cry. It was fun at its best. I saw Nasir clicking away furiously. He had never seen his Editor bitten by this strange bug. But he was enjoying it. He too, I presumed was bored to death with his mundane shots...panning, tracking, interiors, exteriors, one-third, two-thirds. This was different, no matter how silly or juvenile or mad it looked or felt. Here was a machine and man in absolute tandem. This was not a straight line ride, this one was all over at one go.