7618 – a friend

One thing I remembered from the book “Life’s Amazing Secret” is “how we treat lifeless things, it reflects in our nature and we start treating people in the same way”. When I thought about writing about friends, it was confusing from whom I should start, after a lot of thinking I finally decided to write about 7618.

He is the Hero Honda Splendor. Gift by Shashikant uncle to Chinar for social work cum college and personal use. The bike joined our group I think in the 2nd year as a replacement for his small brother Luna. 7618 was bigger in shape, size, and more energetic (yes, ye un dino ki Baat hai….When splendor was a bike). With this dashing 7618 also, the rider was not able to attract the focus of a single girl from the college. So to cross-check the facts, 7618 changed at least 30-40 riders (not owner, but he was unofficially owned by the college with most of the shares owned by Mechanical Engg) but the story remained the same, not a single girl looked at him or rider in 4 years. So finally 7618 accepted the truth of being owned by Mechanical Engg and started enjoying (boy)friends’ company only.

7618 dedicated the initial 3 years of his life for the social activities mainly focused on college to university travel (for exam paper rechecking form filling, re-exam form filling, and mark sheet collection ). If somebody measured the kilometer traveled (many rounds with different riders from college to university) it would be equal to the distance between earth and moon (or maybe return).

7618 was very loyal to the co-passenger. The rider was changing timely but the co-passenger never left his seat. Anybody wanting to go anywhere 7618 was always ready with a back seat booked for a permanent co-passenger. 7618 was leaving the co-passenger only when he is leaving for the home else he is always accompanied by his favorite pal, even the lectures or practicals don’t matter (in classrooms or lab, but these guys are always together outside in parking, maybe accompanying each in “Tanhai”. 7618 might be thinking how his favorite friend got attendance above 75%).

7618 was never worried about petrol price hikes, he knows riders will not fill petrol more than 20Rs. But 7618 was committed and loyal, so at 20 Rs. Petrol will take you to any corner of the city with an assured return trip.

Exam result time was the most hectic period for 7618, but he was always ready for the service. To visit temples, xeroxing of notes, home/room to exam center/hostel, college to university for paper recheck form filling, result checking (still don’t know what was so exciting in the result), re-exam form filling he was always ready like Angel for us. After exam fever gets over, he used to inspire and help us with movies, parties, and fun.

7618 was one of the key members who helped many guys to complete engineering successfully like a partner.

When we joined companies in Pune, he was also with us, but he came to Pune with a different glow and glittering like diamonds. Whenever we have visited FC college road or JM road or any other crowded place, it was sure that some traffic guys will be fascinated by him, ignoring the all other 3000-4000 bikes parked along the side by side and will take only 7618 with them and then we have to start a campaign “freedom for 7618” even sometimes marching towards the place where they have held captive 7618 (we have paid so much donation in this campaign in 5-6 years, that we must have brought 2-3 brothers for 7618). In Pune on weekend (Wednesday and Friday) he was rushing to Kothrud like a horse running in the race and on the highway he used to get more energy and power trying to beat the other horses (Pulser, Apache, Avenger) but he never won. It doesn’t matter, we never thought of leaving him in his old age, we were always happy by remembering his winning streak in college time.

7618 was like Kapi Dhwaja for us (Krishna the Sarathi keeps changing, but Arjun passenger or co-passenger was the same). The way Kapi Dhwaja played a vital role in Kurukshetra Yuddha and helped Arjuna to win it, the same way 7618 played a vital role in Chinar’s life (indirectly in our life)from the day he is born. He helped us to win or at least fight life’s many wars (exam, seminar, project submission, practical exams, viva, practical re-exam, etc.) by helping us to reach on time safely and never left us in trouble. Just one major difference from Kapi Dhwaja, after Kurukshetra Kapi Dhwaja was taken back by the god but 7618 is still standing strong and inspiring us, reminding us of all the old memories of college days and friends….

यारों दोस्ती, बड़ी ही हसीन है
ये न हो तो, क्या फिर?
बोलो ये ज़िन्दगी है….7618