YESTERDAY …
Here are some flashback stories from my yester years. You might ask… in what way they are related to buying an Auto Car?. Well... Let us read and decide...
1. The Eternal Bicycle:
It was during 1977-78. I was studying in my 9th standard in a High School. Let me call it as school itself. It was in a remote village, without any basic facilities.
Remote means how much?... Well, the God’s given legs were our wheels. Dried coconut leaves were our head lamps. And what about lights ? A kerosene lamp was the biggest luxury. You people don't understand all these !!. No problem,... it is called Generation Gap.
There was no 2 or 4 wheeler in the entire village. And very few lucky people had bicycles... And those were the days.
There was a girl called BSN, studying in 10th standard (SSLC). She was my neighbor. One day her father gifted a bicycle to her. She learnt cycling quickly and after few days, she came to the school in her bicycle.
The school building was around 150 mts inside the compound wall. And the internal road from the gate was straight away leading to the building.
On her first day, our girl, BSN, came to the school with some nervousness. She was a bit late to the class. The prayer was over and the classes were started.
A student saw her coming to the school in her bicycle. He shouted “Hey, look there, BSN is coming in bicycle”.
“WHAT ? WHAT ?” every one screamed.
The entire class came out of the room. Soon everyone in the entire school came out. Everyone means… yes..
EVERY ONE... All the teaching and non teaching staff also came out of their rooms. Even the head master also came out to see her.
I still remember the faces of all of us. Every one was looking at her with eyes and mouth wide open. Everyone was astonished. We were all amazed. As if some thing is coming from Mars or so. All the eyes were following her from the compound gate till she parked her bicycle.
For the next 10 minutes, there was no class. Everyone was talking about her
boldness.
This continued for almost a week. Then she stopped bringing the bicycle for almost a fortnight. Later on she resumed it, but by then the astonishment had cooled down.
Back home, we were talking about it. Our elders were also telling about it.....
... Like...
... When she went to the school in the morning, there were not many people on the road. But in the evenings, people used to come to the shops for buying groceries etc. And when she was coming back from the school, all the eyes were on her. People used to look at her with amazement. They used to see her from beginning to end with wide mouth and eyes. On the first couple of days, even the shop keepers also came out of the shops to see her.
Yes... those were the days...
My young generation readers (20-30 years old) may not understand all these. And the 30-40 years old might get a glimpse of this if they watch this super hit Kannada movie song. (Of course, it is not related to my story, but there is no harm in watching it)
Just watch this beautiful Song of Juhi Chawla from the movie Prema Loka
It took almost a month or so to settle down this big talking subject of the village.
And do you think the times have changed from that bicycle period to the Auto Car?
Ok... Let us look at one more story...
