My life is my message.
— Mahatma Gandhi.
My Dear Comrade
The engine roared to start with heavy noise, clutch, and gear a little bit hard to shift, break sinks to the floor, headlights are blurry, wiper not working, apart from this everything was ok. I was nervous about the journey, for many reasons one is to travel ten thousand kilometers from home on a vehicle which was made in 1992, the condition was not that great, finding spare parts and a good mechanic was a big challenge, and raising funds to make it run was an even bigger challenge.
Finding a good mechanic is a very gigantic task, I spoke to many friends in Ooty, and finally, one of the off-roading enthusiast Mr. Arun from Kothagiri said ‘‘you just speak to Mr. Prabu, owner of Jeep Pit shop in Coimbatore he will fix it up’’.
I decided to take the vehicle to Coimbatore.
I was not sure that with the present condition, will reach Coimbatore which is 100 km from my home. What if the vehicle stopped midway, or met with an accident, mountain roads are difficult and sometimes dangers.
So I invited Yoga, a very active and creative video editor boy from Ooty to follow me on his bike – “at least one will be safe”
We crawled through the dense early morning fog on winding Western Ghats’ road of The Nilgiris. The birds, monkeys, street dogs, cats, cows, buffaloes, donkeys, horses, wild pigs, and even elephants apparently got scared and fled after hearing the huge sound created by the vehicle.
We descended the mountains stopping every 25 km to cool the engine, checking all parts are intact. We reached Coimbatore in 6 hours which is more than double the time that normal vehicles will take to reach Coimbatore from Ooty.
My newfound mechanic Mr. Prabu, ignited the engine, opened the bonnet, accelerated it to peak, went around, and after maybe one hour of inspection he asked me “why don’t you take some other vehicle for the trip”. He continued to say that working on this is useless, it is time-consuming, expensive, spare parts are not available etc. and finally, he said, “why take pain just change the vehicle”.
First I could not understand what he said, but slowly it sank into me. I don’t know what to say I just saw it, it was for the first time in 12 years of driving could feel that it was not a machine without feeling but it was my love. The blue beauty, made by Maruti Suzuki branded and sold as Maruti Gypsy. I don’t know what made Maruti Suzuki make this vehicle of absolute power and beauty.
Gypsy in India is manufactured by Maruti Suzuki, which was introduced in the Indian market in December 1985 with the 970 cc F10A Suzuki engine with the codenamed MG410, which stood for “Maruti Gypsy 4-cylinder 1.0-litre engine. The carburetted F10A engine made 45 bhp (34 kW; 46 PS) and was mated to a four-speed gearbox. The 4WD transfer case had two speeds. It had a freewheeling mechanism on the front axles made by Aisin to unlock the front axles from the hub when 4WD is not used; a beautiful mechanism.
I don’t know for how long I stared my Gypsy, I felt somewhat heavy in my heart and mind, I couldn’t think it is a structure made out of iron and powered by petrol and obeys all the commands without asking any questions, it is something a kind of, an extension of my beautiful family.
My kids love it and all the travel that we did together came like a flash. I bought it from Jodhpur in Rajasthan and it was with me in Delhi then In Goa and now in Ooty. It was with our family as a part of all our joy and sorrow.
When Mr. Prabu, said that it is better to scrap this and take a new vehicle, I felt as if I am removing someone from my family.
There was a long silence
Standing near it, sitting, moving the steering wheel, walking around, in silence the conversation with me and my Gypsy went on for a long time, I don’t know-how much may be close to one hour.
Finally, I opened the door of my Gypsy, stepped out. I was now determined, I called Mr. Prabu and said if I am going to Kanyakumari to Kargil it will be with my Gypsy only. Mr. Prabu who was confused first and eventually understood my love and relation with my gypsy and said “let’s do this”
Now we have 7 days with us to fix the Gypsy, I planned to start from Coimbatore to Kanyakumari on 15th august 2019 where I will meet my partners Srinivas and Enith, to start the ten thousand Kilometer journey, Portrait of a Nation on the 17th of August 2019.
I strongly believed that if you love something it will reciprocate in equal measure and sometimes even more. The love is not only to living beings but also with inanimate objects and things have the power to reciprocate love.
When I am driving alone I used to speak to my Gypsy as if I am speaking to my family members.
We listed the work to done, spare parts to be sourced and services to be outsourced. In this whole game, the tough part was to hunt for spare parts, which is not easily available in Coimbatore or any location nearby it. The model Gypsy MG410 is outdated, hence to get spare parts was really difficult.
I don’t know where money, spare parts, and human resources came. I think it is probably Love. Love has the power to transcend communication and connection in a more influential way. My love with Gypsy brought all the spare parts in super speed, some of them flown from Goa, Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai.
The entire engine was removed, crank and camshaft were replaced with new ones, cylinder walls are re-bored, spark plugs were changed, Engine head was cleaned and all oil seals where replaced.
The radiator was rehabilitated, the carburetor was calibrated, the dynamo was altered. Wiper motor where serviced, fuel pump, tank, and lines were cleaned. The power was secured. Wheel balance breaks, oil pumps overhauling was done.
Some cosmetic changes were done in the interior by removing LPG tank and gas lining, attaching proper stoppers for doors and windows, checking all lights and replacing bulbs.
Tyres were filled with Nitrogen, chemically a non-flammable, non-toxic inert gas, since I was going to drive it for ten thousand a kilometer from Kanyakumari to Kargil, from hot temperature to cold temperature I wanted my tyre to keeps to stable pressure over a long period of time, also it gives a better fuel economy and can reduce tyre wear.
All these jobs are completed at a lighting speed of 5 straight days.
Kudos to Mr. Prabu and his dedicated team.
As per plan, our journey started on 17th Morning 6 am from Kanyakumari, the bottom tip of India.
The gypsy never stopped
We did face small breakdowns, like clutch pedal going all the way to the floor causing gear clash, a minor sound from the front axle shafts, exhaust leakage and hence decrease in fuel efficiency and also causing the engine to work harder, petrol drying up and broken left-back wheel Stud and hub.
The Gypsy which is like my family, and like my family it never failed me.
My gypsy is my Dear Comrade
When I was going through all this in this project “Portrait of a Nation”, I started to think, if there is a scenario if I am going to buy a brand new vehicle, with a modern facility, what would I have done to my old gypsy, I would have simply scraped this vehicle. It would have gone to scrap yard and disappeared from the world.
Whatever comes will go, nothing is permanent in this world, but I feel that I have the power to prolong the disappearance, it is not only going to make me happy but it postpones my consumption and possibly reduce it also
This creates a conversation within me about the “philosophy of scrap”
Why we scrap old vehicles, why suddenly the vehicle that carried us around becomes useless and is disregarded & disposed off. Is there anything to do with efficiency or just a capitalistic agenda to make people buy new and shiny vehicles? Why can we not just upgrade the old vehicle with new innovation and technology instead of completely scrapping the vehicle?
I don’t know the answer just a thought
Why you love your vehicle, in your own words
Please write about your feelings in the comment box!
