The humble and
diminutive Maruti 800 made its presence felt in India a little before I was
born. It was a no-brainer for thousands of Indians for it to be their first
car. All through my family, relatives had owned the Maruti 800 at some point in
their lives.
When I finished
studying and got to work, I needed my own personal transport for commute.
Buying a new car wasn’t an option so I
went to the second hand market looking for, no guesses, a Maruti 800. I got it
for a lowly price.
The commutes were
the stated reason but deep down I knew I was going to be doing many road trips
in this car.
There is an
unexplained pleasure in experiencing first hand the open roads and sights of
new lands . With the humble Maruti, I too had my share of trips.
My first ever
self-driven road trip was when I and my father drove down to NH17. It was a
night drive during the winter months. 400kms of Konkan serpentine bliss.
The next trip was to
Shirdi and it was EPIC. It has been chronicled here.
The monsoons and the
madness in Lonavala with friends. A couple of trips and I had most of Lonavala
mapped in my head.
The final trip
before I upgraded the car was to Ellora via Shirdi. Loads of fun, a couple of
missed exits and a midnight race against time to Bombay (courtesy Golu).
What the Maruti 800
lacked in creature comforts it made up for in character. Simple and Brilliant.
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