Greetings Mutineers. I’ve been far from the home office for far too long and my current travels take me to the distant land of Seoul, S. Korea. If there’s a Little India out here, I’m sure I’ll find it. In between travels, I had some precious weekend time in San Francisco where Anna & I held a Mutineer Meetup (Brimful’s excellent writeup is here) and I snapped the shot below with my trusty cameraphone on my way back home.
My chronicle of the Desi conquest of America earlier showcased downtown SF’s gyms; we will now take to the streets -
You too can pick up an authentic Bajaj scooter from the SF Scooter showroom for a mere $2699.
Dunno about you but seeing that logo sure brought back the memories… As a kid, I was never really impressed with the Ringling Bros “10 clowns in a Volkswagen Beetle” act cuz I’d seen the real thing in da motherland. Except instead of 10 clowns in a spacious car, we’re talking about an entire Desi-sized family perched atop a rickety little Bajaj scooter while darting in and out of downtown Cochin traffic at high speed. Everyone’s a clown and noone’s an atheist on them roads.
In less space than a friggin’ Mercury space capsule, Desi families managed to squeeze in a couple kids standing single file between dad’s arms & knees, and a couple more clutching him from behind. But the real trophy goes to mom, dearest mom, who sat in the rear with her knees vise-gripped together and daintily off to one side, with kid #5 screaming at the top of his lungs whilst in her lap. Of course, the good wife never questioned her husband’s driving nor sense of direction. Truly a sight to behold - 7 people and nary a helmet between them.
By contrast, BajajUSA’s website prefers to go with some different imagery to entice American riders -
Bajaj Auto Ltd. (pronounced “Baa-jaaj”) has been building motor scooters for the European and Asian markets for over 40 years. Their scooters have proven themselves to be strong and reliable on some of the roughest road conditions in the world.
Tough road conditions? Now that’s quite the euphemism. Clearly, the “export” models aren’t your uncle’s scooter from back in the day -
At 110 Miles per Gallon (per EPA City Cycle dyno tests) Bajaj scooters have the highest mileage rating of any 150cc scooter in the U.S… Very Low Exhaust Emissions meet the strict California emissions standards - All Steel Monocoque Body, provides a rugged chassis with classic motor scooter style - Powerful, high torque, smooth running 4-stroke engine
My memory may be hazy but Uncle Raj’s scooter was anything but “smooth running” or “low emissions”. Still, it’s interesting to see Bajaj also bring to the US market, the “3 wheel utility vehicle” -
The above photo was taken after having driven pre-production samples of each model at the Bajaj test track. That pleased look is genuine, these are great utility vehicles!
Drivers of San Francisco, your days are numbered. The tricked out Bajaj custom scooter in your rearview mirror might just be the scooter swami himself spewing some freeverse as he kicks mud in yo face.
