The Best Souvenir

“There are souls in this world who have the gift of finding joy everywhere, and leaving it behind them when they go.” ― Frederick William Faber

Bhola, a Maruti Zen car was manufactured in the Manesar plant in Gurgaon, Haryana. It was painted white  with a black bumper, and had gleaming neon headlights as it rolled into Mr. Suresh’s home in Hyderabad. It was one of the new cars Suresh had bought owing to the looks and zero maintenance. It was also a gift for his little daughter Chingi who was growing. He drove it straight to Car Shringar and got ‘Chingy’s’ engraved on the glass at the back of the car. Chingy had a beautiful curly haired younger cousin sister called Bundu who was a regular visitor. Her father owned a dark Olive Green Maruti 800. Whenever Bundu visited Chingy’s family with her parents, the Maruti 800 was parked near Bhola, the Zen. It was during those long waits that Bhola came to know about the whole family as the Maruti 800 had lived with Bundu and family for years. Bhola was accommodating and always made space for the Maruti 800.

Bundu and Chingi were vivacious and loved jumping on the seats of Bhola, and Bhola enjoyed the long drives that Suresh made with these two young girls.  Swami was employed as a driver to cater to the needs of the family. The coins in the dashboard and  the fuel, ‘petrol’ were Bhola’s best friends. The rupee coin was never used and remained lying in the car box telling Bhola that though they were equally metallic, their moulding made them special. It waited to get back to the foundry to get a makeover into something better. The petrol that was poured  was sensitive with humane feelings, but disappeared as it caught a spark. Suresh had a sister Vidya in Chennai who had a son named Raja. The boy was born at Hyderabad and the girls Chingi and Bundu adored the little boy. During one of the visits Suresh told his sister that he planned to sell Bhola as he was going to buy a Maruti Esteem.  Bhola was distressed on hearing this as he had grown used to the driver Swami and loved being with Suresh. It remembered how it had managed to to take Suresh’s wife Meena to the hospital when she was terribly sick, the anxious hours it had spent with Chingi  when she wrote her exams and many other poignant incidents flashed in its mind. Vidya however liked Bhola from the first day, she remembered the  numerous hospital visits in Hyderabad and little Raja’s birth in the Hyderabad Nursing home, Bhola was the vehicle, the family  had constantly used. It was new and had not met with an accident, it ran smoothly without any screeching sounds, and so she desired to take it to Chennai. 

One fateful day, Suresh and Meena sent Bhola at the crack of dawn with Swami who drove Vidya, her husband Rakesh and little Raja to Chennai. Meena circled a coconut around Bhola, and broke it heavily on the ground. She placed lemon under each of the tyres and asked Swami to drive. Swami loved long drives and rode is as fast as possible. The speedometer never came below 90 kilometers per hour. Vidya warned Swami several times, she could never understand Bhola’s grief, finally, when it crossed 120 kilometers per hour the needle of the speedometer broke. Bhola spoke to the fuel, saying that it would have never happened had it been with Suresh. The fuel was a combination of several living bodies that had been compressed to liquefy under pressure. Even before it could empathize, it got burnt and changed into energy, motivating Bhola to overcome the grief. In reality, it seemed to indicate that meeting and parting were a part of life.  Finally, they reached Chennai in the evening. The next morning, Swami gave Bhola a final wash, handed the key to Vidya and  left for Hyderabad.

Little Raja and his friends loved Bhola, they leapt on it, hid behind it and patted it several times in a day. Bhola loved Rakesh the master the most who washed it every day till it gleamed. He took care that Bhola did not get heated up in the sun. Years passed, Raja was a young man  now, Vidya and Raja also learnt driving. Bhola was nothing but a machine and so after a few years its parts failed to function  much to its annoyance. One day while Vidya drove it refused to stop and collided with another vehicle. It was the first injury called a 'dent' in years. Rakesh got it repaired and got its body retouched with white paint. They then drove Bhola to the Hyundai showroom and bought a new car. Bhola felt inferior to the deep blue metallic car as it looked shabby and felt so. Raja would drive Bhola to the beach where he went for the morning walk. It, however, took a lot of time to gather energy and movement. 

Whenever plumber Mahmood was called for repairs, he never failed to run a caring hand on Bhola. He yearned to buy Bhola. He knew his daughter Sadiya would love it. One morning, when it rained incessantly, Mahmood asked Rakesh whether he could buy Bhola. Rakesh quickly got a transaction deal made and sold Bhola. Bhola had begun to rust and felt it would end up as scrap, but Mahmood got Bhola repaired and serviced, he got the tyres changed and now Bhola looked respectable. The rupee coin remained with Bhola as a close friend. Mahmood lived in the outskirts of Chennai. Sadiya took care of Bhola, she would wash the exteriors, dust the seats and would occasionally sit in the driver’s seat and enjoy the intermittent rains in Chennai. She was a college goer and wanted to accomplish great many things for her family.  It kept raining in Chennai in the months of November and December. Mahmood had a brother Salim who sold groceries. The shop was stacked with food. 

The rains brought greater responsibilities on the family. Mahmood was sought after to clear the chokes while Salim had to provide groceries to people in the city. The city witnessed harsh rains that came down as a heavy downpour, it filled the city within no time. Mahmood and Salim used Bhola broadly to clear the chokes and provide food. People thanked them profusely and showered them with blessings. Bhola drove its best for it wanted to give the brothers  the gift of  it being alive and functioning. It understood that people gave importance to things and lives as long as they were useful, but Mahmood and Salim had accepted it as it was and used it for a noble cause. 

One of those days, as the water rose higher Bhola was carrying Sadia and the brothers to a safer place near the temple. The water level rose higher than ever, Bhola knew it would be its last ride before it reached the foundry as its engine groaned and screeched. It rode with all its might despite its inability.  When the brothers and family felt Bhola could no longer move in water, they pulled the door of the car and stepped out into the water, water entered Bhola, the rupee was  now swimming inside. The family stood on the hood and entered the temple safely. Bhola felt it was the most fulfilling drive it had as it could save the family. It sunk in water with  the feeling of contentment, it believed that a life of involvement was rewarding and was undeniably one of the greatest souvenirs in life. 

“If love is the greatest gift of all-and I believe it is- then the greatest privilege of all is to be able to love someone.” ― Laura Schroff