हमारा बजाज - चुन्नु मुन्नु दे पप्पा दी गड्डी

हमारा बजाज. The बजाज scooter. चुन्नु मुन्नु दे पप्पा दी गड्डी.

The vehicle of choice for so many people of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and the 90s. The last such scooter rolled out of its Pune factory last year.

People of my father's age are still in love with their bajaj scooter. None of the various models of bajaj scooter were sleek. They were all bulky. It had a 150cc engine. It gave around 50kmpl. I at times felt like sitting on a tripod, and working with stuff on the floor while riding our bajaj scooter. The foot-brake was uncomfortable.

But people liked it. Earlier, there was limited choice, but later people liked it because most people say - it starts with a single kick, it doesn't stall, spare parts are cheap, doesn't break that often, works well with adulterated petrol, and "खराब रस्तों पर भी तकलीफ नही देती", and "इस पे एक LPG सिलिन्डर ला सकते हैं".

The number of bajaj vehicles sold in India, over a period of 40 years, is a testimony to its robustness.

No wonder the punch-line was हमारा बजाज.

We had one such scooter too. It was my dad's, bought in 1990-91 I guess. 3 days back, the scooter was stolen from श्रीवर्धन complex in रामदासपेठ in नागपुर. After 16-17 years of working well, without any problems.