As I’m riding Roxanne — excuse my language please — while shifting through the 3-speed gearbox with the handle-bar mounted gear changer, I can’t help but think how far scooters have come since their inception. You see, the Vespa isn’t really the conception of the scooter — it began far before Piaggio’s wonderful contraption rode into the hearts of millions around the globe. While the exact first scooter ever made is debatable, the German Hildebrand & Wolfmueller, produced in the late 1800s, is widely regarded as the earliest known example.

But it is common knowledge that the scoot was conceptualised as a cheap, no-frills runabout that everybody with hands and legs could ride. As time went by, cars began to take prominence from motorcycles. This was when scooter makers realised that the masses could do with individual transport that cost less to buy and run, but offered a cleaner ride. From the drawing boards popped a bevy of designs, some practical, some totally outrageous. Suddenly, scooter manufacturers mushroomed all around the western world, offering car-like comfort at a fraction of the cost.

Soon to follow the rage overseas, scooter production began in India but they didn’t exactly match the quality of their foreign counterparts. Their pressed steel bodies seemed to corrode faster than not, and some “Indianised” scoots that were basically motorcycle engines ensconced in metal panels and small-diameter wheels, flopped spectacularly. Models like the Royal Enfield Fantabulous, which happened to sport an electric starter, and the Rajdoot Runabout were bought by a handful of people, and I suspect all of them were kith and kin of the manufacturers.

But the relatively good products sold in large numbers, so much so that to buy a Bajaj 150 or even a Lambretta for that matter, you would have to wait years to get yourself one brand new from the company. Taking advantage of this situation, scooters were actually sold brand new in the black market for a much higher price. And people bought them. Would something like this work now? Absolutely not. The Indian market space has flung its doors wide open and the fierce competition has no place for monopolies any more. The consumer is now king and he could care a certain rodent’s rear end about high-falutin’ companies. He has the power of choice on his side and he uses it rather mercilessly without any thought or remorse.

Scooters like Roxanne are a relic from India’s past while the Activa is testament to the country’s present and shows what direction it's heading. We have come a long way as a nation and like somebody once said, a country is only as good as its roads. Judging from that, we sure have a long way to go.