ROMANCING THE HERALD
Shyam Saxena’s with Vidya Balsn, in a wheel chair, his friend,in the movie, with a Standard Herald car, with the ‘Top-up’, and later, with rain lashing down the top ‘Down’, parked in the background, seen in the movie ‘GURU’, last evening sent me back many years down the memory-lane to our own ‘Herald’
We would be scooting along, with Jeet ,my wife, on the pillion holding Chotta, Ranjit, our son held in her lap and Chotoo,
Kalpana ,our daughter, standing on the foot- board holding on to the handle of the Vespa, on the streets of Poona , yes, Pune was known as Poona, those days, especially on the week-ends.
Both of us would be covertly looking at the Heralds of many colours zipping past, as if a Herald could Zip.
One day , we decided to take a calculated risk and exchanged the Vespa for a ‘Conifer Green’ Herald, thanks for a 16.000 Rupees Government loan, returnable at the rate of Rupeess 200 per month for next six or seven years. This reduced the already meager take-home pay to Rupees 800 per month, for Jeet to run the house and spare me 100 for the one liters of petrol we needed to fill in the tank of the car every month.
The Herald became an integral part of the family, a home, away from home, on wheels, a dependable and loyal new member of the family, also some one to hold Jeet’ s hand, especially during my extended absences from the family due to my field postings, for years at end. The Herald was there, always at back and call, when need to ferry the children to school, emergency visits to hospital and shopping also to carry the family for joyous reunions at the Railway station, driven by Jeet, when I came home on annual or casual leave ,picnics and long over due family outings.
It served us faithfully, with trouble free trips both long and short; from Poona to Dehradun and back, the trip taken just a couple of days after bringing it home that we piled in with the luggage packed-up in the cavernous trunk, Chota and Chotoo , on the back seat, Jeet in the co-driver’s, expertly acting as the navigator with the AAI handout for the road. We all excited but for different reasons, the children for the prospects of the long of car ride, the two of us, of showing our new acquisition to our respective families. I all the time keeping all my worries, of possible road hazards, the reliability of the car, possibility of a breakdown some en route, some where in the wilderness, far away from any help, also of the risks involved, while traversing the dacoit infested section of the road between Bhind/Moraina and Gwalior to my self. Much later from Ranchi in Bihar, where I was posted, to Secundarabad in Andhra Pradesh, on being detailed for the Long Defence Management Course , this time better prepared and organized with less worries. We made frequent trips to our native village, on bad roads, as also on no roads, when off road and innumerable drives to Dehradun to and from Delhi, when posted there.
The Harald also traveled, the length and breadth of India, on my postings, by train, along with the house-hold baggage, safely lashed in the EVK, the special railway wagon.
For the next 22 Years it served us well, but for occasional flooding of the carburetor, mainly due to my flooring the accelerator pedal; direct fuel injectors, for petrol cars were still in distance future, it did not ever let us down and never met a road accident. However, with age catching up it started needing frequent visits to the mechanics, with the Sunday reserved for such frequent visits, to the chagrin of Jeet, naturally had lined-up some other plans.
One day it had competition, on the insistence of the family, we brought a Maruti Omni Van home. Now she would remain parked out-side, fore lone, wait for some one to crank the engine, brush the accumulated dust from the body, give it a wash, and take it out for a spin in vain.
And then one day, with a heavy heart and deeply felt sorrow; I sold it, albeit, parting from the loyal companion of long need some effort on my part. However, I was glad to see it leaving us on its own power. As I saw it disappear round the corner, I had the same feeling of loss that Jeet’s parents would have felt, seeing the green Chevrolet sedan, carrying Jeet, their daughter along with me, till then a stranger, when it disappeared from their sight, as it turned round the corner and speeded away on that day of 22nd November 1958 at Dehradun.
Brig lakshman Singh
Shyam Saxena’s with Vidya Balsn, in a wheel chair, his friend,in the movie, with a Standard Herald car, with the ‘Top-up’, and later, with rain lashing down the top ‘Down’, parked in the background, seen in the movie ‘GURU’, last evening sent me back many years down the memory-lane to our own ‘Herald’
We would be scooting along, with Jeet ,my wife, on the pillion holding Chotta, Ranjit, our son held in her lap and Chotoo,
Kalpana ,our daughter, standing on the foot- board holding on to the handle of the Vespa, on the streets of Poona , yes, Pune was known as Poona, those days, especially on the week-ends.
Both of us would be covertly looking at the Heralds of many colours zipping past, as if a Herald could Zip.
One day , we decided to take a calculated risk and exchanged the Vespa for a ‘Conifer Green’ Herald, thanks for a 16.000 Rupees Government loan, returnable at the rate of Rupeess 200 per month for next six or seven years. This reduced the already meager take-home pay to Rupees 800 per month, for Jeet to run the house and spare me 100 for the one liters of petrol we needed to fill in the tank of the car every month.
The Herald became an integral part of the family, a home, away from home, on wheels, a dependable and loyal new member of the family, also some one to hold Jeet’ s hand, especially during my extended absences from the family due to my field postings, for years at end. The Herald was there, always at back and call, when need to ferry the children to school, emergency visits to hospital and shopping also to carry the family for joyous reunions at the Railway station, driven by Jeet, when I came home on annual or casual leave ,picnics and long over due family outings.
It served us faithfully, with trouble free trips both long and short; from Poona to Dehradun and back, the trip taken just a couple of days after bringing it home that we piled in with the luggage packed-up in the cavernous trunk, Chota and Chotoo , on the back seat, Jeet in the co-driver’s, expertly acting as the navigator with the AAI handout for the road. We all excited but for different reasons, the children for the prospects of the long of car ride, the two of us, of showing our new acquisition to our respective families. I all the time keeping all my worries, of possible road hazards, the reliability of the car, possibility of a breakdown some en route, some where in the wilderness, far away from any help, also of the risks involved, while traversing the dacoit infested section of the road between Bhind/Moraina and Gwalior to my self. Much later from Ranchi in Bihar, where I was posted, to Secundarabad in Andhra Pradesh, on being detailed for the Long Defence Management Course , this time better prepared and organized with less worries. We made frequent trips to our native village, on bad roads, as also on no roads, when off road and innumerable drives to Dehradun to and from Delhi, when posted there.
The Harald also traveled, the length and breadth of India, on my postings, by train, along with the house-hold baggage, safely lashed in the EVK, the special railway wagon.
For the next 22 Years it served us well, but for occasional flooding of the carburetor, mainly due to my flooring the accelerator pedal; direct fuel injectors, for petrol cars were still in distance future, it did not ever let us down and never met a road accident. However, with age catching up it started needing frequent visits to the mechanics, with the Sunday reserved for such frequent visits, to the chagrin of Jeet, naturally had lined-up some other plans.
One day it had competition, on the insistence of the family, we brought a Maruti Omni Van home. Now she would remain parked out-side, fore lone, wait for some one to crank the engine, brush the accumulated dust from the body, give it a wash, and take it out for a spin in vain.
And then one day, with a heavy heart and deeply felt sorrow; I sold it, albeit, parting from the loyal companion of long need some effort on my part. However, I was glad to see it leaving us on its own power. As I saw it disappear round the corner, I had the same feeling of loss that Jeet’s parents would have felt, seeing the green Chevrolet sedan, carrying Jeet, their daughter along with me, till then a stranger, when it disappeared from their sight, as it turned round the corner and speeded away on that day of 22nd November 1958 at Dehradun.
Brig lakshman Singh
