We Indians are cheap and trust me, I mean that as a compliment. Pushing a rupee as far as it can possibly go is sensible and a good thing, especially in these trying times. And in that pursuit, it can demand impressive quantities of ingenuity.
This motorcycle was built to be so cheap to run that it made walking look like an activity solely reserved for nobility. This bike, dear readers, is the Sooraj diesel.
You don’t see many of these any more, and they’re rarer than hen’s teeth in urban India. Old men, with their grandchildren on their laps, speak in hushed tones of this motorcycle. Mothers shovel food down their kids’ mouths, threatening the visit of this beast into the household if the little ones don’t swallow their food quickly. Tales of shattered femurs make youngsters grimace and stories of how unsuspecting men have had their arms dislocated by the vibration from the engine cause teenagers to tremble and break out in a cold sweat.
But just like eating freshly boiled cucumber cannot give you leprosy, no matter what that ‘wise’ neighbourhood elder might say, there are myths surrounding the Sooraj diesel motorcycle that are as accurate as a government report. So without much ado, I shall go on to bust a few of these old wives’ tales.
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