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It was raining yesterday, raining like hell. In fact, it still is. The security guard nearby is busy reassembling the raft he had built few years ago, just in case. Out on the highway, Srini was worried – ‘I hope the babies are doing fine’ he mumbles, looking out of the fogging window of the Yeti at the unrelenting rain on the expressway. Now, the ‘babies’ he was referring to weren’t some cutesy 2-year olds on an adventure outside their cradles (probably to the balcony or something) but they were in fact classic Volkswagen Beetles. 13 of ‘em cute lil’ things, bobbing up and down in rain hard enough to change the state of the tarmac underneath, through layers of tricky fog (yes, more so on the insides of the cars), through ridiculous traffic and bad roads miles long – they had made it. Now you know the man really obsessively loves his cars when he refers to the Beetles as ‘the babies’ and is visibly worried about their well-being, but as part of the whole Beetle gang heading to the Volkswagen plant in Chakan, no one really thought any differently – the Beetle makes the heart melt sooner rather than later. If all fails, its eyes droop lower and it goes and sits in the corner.
BSM along with Volkswagen had organized the classic Beetle rally to the VW plant yesterday and we had a great time being part of it. Given the conditions, the turn-out was super and the gang added a cheery flash to a relatively gloomy day along the Mumbai-Pune highway as they trundled along captained by their ever-so-jolly owners. Daily runners, fast 2.0-litre engined Beetles, immaculate Beetles, drop-top Beetles – they were all on-board looking fantastic as always. Being herded by the ugly snowman all the way, we reached post noon and 13 classic Volkswagens in all colours, shapes and customizations lined-up against the backdrop of the VW factory made for quite a sight indeed. BSM also tied up with DuPont to gift each enthusiast a custom-made car cover specially tailored to the classic Beetle. Hats off to the owners for being such passionate individuals whose love for the car they own knows no bounds. Never a fan of the new Beetle (or the new New Beetle either) I have always been naturally drawn to the gorgeous Fiat 500, be it the old one or the new and the old Beetle, while thoroughly wonderful, never really caught my eye. Until now. At this very moment though, it’s clear – owning a classic Volkswagen is definitely one of the things to do in life and the two would look magnificent parked besides each other in my future garage. Needless to say, I’ve been bitten by the bug.
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