Underrated Chennai; Amazing M800

When I sold my ruby-red Maruti 800, after nearly 6 years of being together, I felt as if I got the divorce; rejoiced when I remarried to another Lagoon Blue Maruti 800; of course this time with a gear, less!

What was termed as a stupid to decision to invest on a 2.31 lakhs mini car, for 45 days stay last trip back home was hailed later by all and sundry when they saw the benefit of owning a M800 in a city such as Chennai?

In a short trip dashed back home, I zoomed, swiveled, zipped, clipped and zigzagged with my M800, in the city that his known for its heavy two-wheelers traffic, over enthusiastic Government bus drivers and ever changing traffic rules; one day its one-way and the next its No-Entry! And did I say I have a poor memory? Less than 6 hours earlier, I was driving a Ford Escape, a left-hand drive, on Bahrain roads. Back home, a right hand drive, in a completely different road conditions, and a seat that barely could accommodate my bulky back. Yes, I did, in fact, few times, switched-on the wiper, instead of my left-turn signals! But the road psychology, who else can understand better than me? :-)

I managed to drive down to Villupuram, my home town, about 150 kilo metres further from Madras, for a short-trip to visit my childhood favorite Goddess Chelliamman. I had few things to discuss with Her, as well as to celebrate my birthday. And the 3-lane, two-way super highway was a pleasant drive, except for a few bumps closer to Tindivanam where the work was not yet through.

When one of my family friends, insisted us to visit his home, I was mentally prepared for a challenge-to treat my M800 as a bicycle if required to navigate through the lanes of Villupuram. And I did that exactly, with the roads barely built for a bullock-cart, M800 zipped through as if it was on home turf; ideal test conditions! Results 100%

I made a short emotional trip to my school, stood outside and took a picture! As it was Solar Eclipse we had to dash back to Madras, so couldn’t fulfill the reunion with Villupuram. But during the short time I took a drive around High School, Gandhi statue, searched for the shops where we used to have masala tea during our night studies and managed to meet few friends.

And thanks to M800, often trembling at 110 KMs, we managed to reach back Madras under three hours. Back to tackling the Chennai traffic. If they say “you can’t just beat a Bajaj”, I need to steal the slogan here-You can’t just beat a Maruti 800!