MY FIRST VROooM

MY FIRST CAR

I do not know when was the whole idea settled in me that a car could be part of the family,i had an relationship with cars from the moment i must have been old enough to speak.
I think my first ever car ride was on an huge one, i do not recollect the name of the car but it was as big as it could get, our neighbour in Ernakulam had the car and we used to get rides on it. I was so scared to sit in the back seat that i used to make it a point to jump to the second row to be with my mother.
Then came the Amby phobia, we were on a family trip to a temple and mid way we had stopped for a cup of tea, completing that ritual we sat in the car and as usual i occupied the front seat and was on my fathers lap!!!SLAM!!! the door was shut and the next thing i realise, i could not feel my wrist and only then did i see that my fingers were wedged between the door and the body of the car.
Thankfully it was nothing serious, though i still carry the scar on my finger which has stayed on as an memorial of that incident.

Many years later my dad decided to buy a car since we all were trying really hard to fit into an old scooter and were inviting many a sneer from onlookers. One day dad announced "its an Omni" we decided to buy this car as it was HUGE and could accommodate a lot of people, well basically two over grown kids my dad and mom and two other kids one of whom was trying to eat his way into happiness and the other was happy staying hungry, you could guess the first one was me.
Another thing that prompted us to buy this car was our trip to OOTY, i was the one who as sitting next to the driver and enjoying the view, i had declared then "jaj I love this CAR" :-), jaja, being my dad was more than keen to buy this car, so there it was newly painted in pearl white and fresh seats gleaming under the afternoon sun. I could not hold back my excitement,i still remember spending an entire evening inside the car bearing the heat and the mosquitoes, honking and practicing my driving on my imaginary roads with an old stereo belting out BABA SEHGAL songs which was a gift from the old owner.
I was never more happier and almost always dreamed of taking the beauty for a drive through some hilly roads looking out through the window,i knew there that i was a natural at it,i mean driving a car, but it made my mother more and more anxious as i was spending more of my time inside the car than the house. Even spending my time studying for my final exams inside it was what totally freaked her out.
We did go for some amazing trips in it, the most memorable being the ooty trip which was like a trip back down a few years where we had decided that OMNI would be our first car.

Today when i see an omini on the road it takes me back to those old days where, for me a car was more of a member of a family than just a machine,we sold the Omni after much thought for another and have gone further through out INDIA than we would have imagined when we first brought our Omni. I never learnt to drive from any driving school, for me those imaginary vroom-vrooms were all that was required, for me it was much more than just a car, i still miss my Omni.
I bet everyone does miss their first car, their first vroom-vroom, their Omnis