FAMILIAR FACES, CHANGING TIMES

Two blasts from the past, very much alive and kicking, albeit rather slowly in this new fast-paced world.

-  Keshav Teiva Poumai

Nostalgia is an unassumingly strong feeling, especially when it hits at the perfect time. Speaking of memories from a time long gone, let me take you on a stroll down my memory lane. I must have been six or seven years old and our family had a Premier Padmini that we adored. I remember the trips we took during the holidays from Mysore to my grandparent’s place in Coimbatore. Dad and Mum would load up the car strategically such that the legroom in the rear was fille u an ha a a eshi t bed in the back. I remember being wrapped up in layers of blankets with my face pressed up against the cool glass window as we passed through the misty hills of Ooty. Pure bliss.

An elephant in between the Bamboo groves, herds of deer here and there, and the countless number of monkeys that Dad pointed out, commenting on the uncanny resemblance they bared to me. Our trusty Padmini chugged on as steadily as it could on the 1366cc, inline-four diesel engine developed by Fratelli Negri Macchine (FNM) in Italy. Yes, we had the diesel model, complete with a bench seat and a  column-mounted gear shift. I loved that car and I still consider that rear seat to be the comfiest and cosiest spot to ever exist, and nothing can change my mind.