re: Quick mini-meet(s) in Kochi (Cochin) Amazing meet at an amazing location with like minded and amazing enthusiasts! I had a blast.*
I was initially expecting Speed.Demon's Ocean Blue WagonR LXi. Being new to Kochi, I had to take two rounds of the Pachalam lake road, as I was suspicious about the correctness of the location I reached. I kept thinking if I was supposed to be on the other side of the Gosree Bridge. After completing my second round of the new road, I spotted a light blue Honda Jazz S M/T with team-bhp stickers on the boot as well as the rear bumper, looking equally perplexed and confused as I was. I rolled up behind the car, flashed the lights and out came a young dude who asked me if I came for the "bhp meet". I replied with an affirmative. I introduced myself as "aveoman19" and he introduced himself as 275BHP! Now we're two. Now, I'm not too punctual at a lot of things, but this meet was special to me. Bunking my German language class and lying to my dear father that my classes will get delayed, I was at the spot at 2.50 p.m. and so was 275BHP. As a not-so-proud owner of an Apple i4S, I was not able to post anything enquiring about the probability of the meet with the other members as my battery charge was down to 3%. We (275BHP and myself) decided to take two more rounds of the Pachalam road in hopes of finding the fellow members of our Bhp clan. After getting exhausted, we waited and then came the Ocean blue WagonR that I was waiting to see all this while! Speed.Demon was with us. For sometime, I marvelled at the sight of the black wave graphics on the car and surprised that the alloy wheels that I saw in the posts online on the car were in fact black wheel caps! Speed.Demon, you sure pulled a fast one on me mate. After few more minutes of Agonising wait, naveen.raju saheb arrived in his nicely yet subtly accessorised White Swift VDi with functional metallic side skirts, beautiful Headlamp combos and brand spanking new 205/55 R15 made in Japan Yokohama tyres. After another ten minutes of enthusiastic discussion amongst the four of us, we were joined by a pretty white Damsel, case in point, vaisakhr's newly acquired Pearl White Swift ZDi! Now, it felt like a proper team-bhp meet. While we were checking out the space and quality of the new swift and comparing the same with the older generation swift, we saw a delicious mango coloured cutesy young lady lining up behind our mundane cars. It was figomba a.k.a Prashobh Sir's Tata Nano Limited Edition. I instantly wanted to go for a test drive. Luckily for me, with just a one line introduction, "hello Sir! I'm aveoman19. May I take a look at your new car?", he obliged and told me to take it for a spin. I happily did and loved the moment I started the car and the AC just chilled my bones! The way it pulled from standstill with utter élan and took U-turns on a dime, made me fall in love with the car. After me, it was Speed.Demon's turn to experience the very same feeling of Joy that I did. As an icing on the cake, we spotted another beauty, albeit an iconic one at that. She was none other than a 1958 Hindustan Ambassador Mark 1. JayD rolled up in style and he has maintained this old lady in all her pristine glory. Two tone paint? Check. White wall insert tyres? Check. Original Interior? Check. Column mounted gear shift? Check. Original Gasoline engine? Double check! Even the inside rear view mirror, Smiths manufactured meter console marked in MPH and the blaring horn which gave me a mini heart attack (It was that loud) were all original!
Oh yes. I did get a chance to go on a short drive on this beautifully restored Ambassador. Prashobh Sir was very disappointed with the way my 2005 Hyundai Elantra GT performed and it was obvious as I can't remember the last time I serviced my car! I can assure you that the car is awesome. It's just me who is at fault here. We have one of the best professional photographers in the forum. vaisakhr. Armed with a DSLR camera and a pair of hands that are sturdier than the trunk of a tree, he was born to shoot. Shoot pictures of course. A magician behind the lens! The only grudge I have against vaisakhr is that he didn't put up the pictures that I painstakingly took; a sloppy attempt at capturing him in the collage. I was scared to death operating the DSLR which costs a whopping 70000 Indian Rupees! I kept asking him, "what if it falls from my hand?" I was that scared. I was more like a caveman looking at a spaceship. The baby in me wanted to reach home early and everyone else understood me. naveen.raju Saheb actually helped me trace my way back home and everyone else had to cut short the meet because of me. I apologise to all for the same. All in all, it was a Birthday Gift for me on a regular day! Thank you all for a wonderful experience. Let us do it again. |