But dearest friends, I mean cars, alas! must part.

Sigh… yet another goodbye. No, no one's getting married this time. The Maruti Zen which has given us girls, undeniably, the best times of our life is being sold off.

 

'Us girls' refers to the gang of 6 crazy girls 5 of whom have been together since Std 11 and a new entry in Second Yr college. We had 3 scooties among the 5 of us until 2nd year of college. In those 4 years we have traversed the length and breadth of Poona in a way that no one else would have in their lifetime. We have jumped signals for kicks (come on! We were young girls, we are excused silly behavior!) and lied to cops and cried at the police station for hours (trying to look as natural as we could in the midst of giggle fits.) when those lil bikes were towed away.

 

Our first time out together was in 11th Std - pizzas, wine and trying smokes for the first time in of those lanes at Koregaon Park - Some of us were nervous, some were drunk and some were trying to figure out how a cigarette is lit. But all of us were enjoying. That evening made one of us a smoker, one of us a drunkard (well almost) and 2 of us found a strange connection with each other with food being the path.

 

We continued eating and drinking and loving each other. And then one of us bought a car - a Maruti Zen. And there was a new girl with curls like no one else. And she had a connection with us - of drinking and eating.  That was the turning point. The scooties would only take us to a common destination from where we would load ourselves into the car. And the eating and drinking increased manifold since the sun, rain and nigh time could not harm us much now and since there was a new person to join us. The love was showered on the Zen too. The Zen has seen 3 of us bitch about the other 3 (many times in different permutations). It has seen 5 of us laugh like the world's ending and one of us crying like there's no tomorrow. It has cooperated in every single insane prank played by the owner. It has taken us to college, to the court, to the university, to clubs, pubs, restaurants, movie halls, NDA, Khadakwasla, Lonavla, railway station, bus stops  where not.

 

It has been 5 years since the Zen has lugged us every damn where. And seen us becoming more than just eating/drinking friends. It has seen us become professionals, exchanging business cards. It has seen us become each other's lifelines. Today we are an integral part of each other despite the different professions we are in and the different geographic locations we live in. And the Zen knows it. It knows what we mean to each other and what it means to us.

 

The Zen is making its last sacrifice in a few days - It will sell itself off for making the down payment for a new Fully automatic Honda City with Racing features. I hope the Honda City will love us as much. We'll try to love it too. But we never know.

* The pictures of the Zen will be up soon. As of now, please manage with a pic of us. This was the last time we went to Lonavla in the Zen...