The Premier Padmini that never came home.

 All the memories of my childhood years are scattered in the lanes of a small town in Tamil Nadu. 

I don't remember much of the early years, but around the time I was 11 or 12, One of the major events of my erstwhile uneventful life happened. My uncle, lived a few lanes away from my house. My Uncle and Aunt dotted on us and we grew up running back and forth between the houses well into our adult years. So back to when I was 11 - One weekend, My uncle triumphantly announced that he is going to buy a car. Now, I don't know if you can understand why that was so important to any 11 year old, but it was life altering for me. One, I really loved cars and I really hated how we had to get around in our small town. 

Those days, the chief means of transport was a bus, run by the government. So all kinds of people and animals rode it - How else do you think the animals got to the market ? That was my number one point of contest - I just did not want to sit next to a rooster, hoping and praying all through the journey that it does not peck me. And let's just not discuss the sheep. I am not being standoffish - the sheep do smell. Throw in few more indescribable scents and there you have the bus. And, you are lucky if the bus is not overflowing with people who all have to be someplace...all at the same time. 

And, also, I was growing up and thought I deserved better than that bus ride. The tween years - which all parents understandingly nod these days, was not even acknowledged then. Add to this, my love for cars. This is chiefly because of my brothers - Wars and cars were discussed with equal jest. I never really participated in their discussions but I was always around , trying to make sense of all that I could. I knew most of the cars available then, and was ready to dream about the Contessa classic that is soon going to be a part of my life. I really liked Jeeps but my uncle was a man of refined taste, so I know there is no way he is going to buy a Jeep. 

So, I reconciled myself to the thought of this big long car and quiet liked the idea. A few days later, I overhear my Uncle telling my dad, he is thinking of booking a premier Padmini. Now, that is not the car I had on my mind and  my face drops instantly.Sights and sounds of an over crowded bus zap me back to reality and I realize anything would do. Just not the bus. I know, most rational people would  think ," Hey, it's your uncle who is buying the car, not your dad. "  Such pragmatic views have never been my forte - not even at 40. So you can imagine, how I would have been at 11. 

 I was soon picking colors for the car and places to go, techniques to get the window seat (Trust  me, that is a great deal when you have to fight two brothers to it. ) , Maybe I should get into my uncle's good books( Not easy) or just convince my mom, I am growing up and it is better if I am chauffeured around ( I was fiercely independent then, just that I even thought of being chauffeured makes me think I really must have been desperate.  ) 

I do not know or remember how my brothers went through this phase but I had definitely started building a life with the premier Padmini that will soon light up my life. No more buses or let's say, just the bare minimum. Maybe I will get dropped till the bus stop and everyone will know not to push me around while I was trying to board the bus. Time they knew who I was. I might even let my friends ride with me, provided they were nice to me. I was also thinking about where to park the car, because you see our houses those days were not built with a car in mind. I even had plans on how to modify the current front yard to fit in the car.  I vividly remember I had a spring in my step right around those times. Oh the castles I built with my would be car. 

As the days rolled by, I lived with my head in the premier Padmini, Oblivious to the traitorous nature of Life itself. In a few months, my uncle passed away and the Premier Padmini never came home. But to this day, any mention of a Premier Padmini warms my heart and takes me back in time to those wonderful years of juvenescence.