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Srini drives old cars for a living. All right, that is not exactly correct, as he does a great deal of new car testing away from my eyes. Three-in-one comparisons between front-engined, front-wheel driven cars? Well, my associate editor dearest would churn that out without cribbing. Actually he cribs, but we generally ignore it and pile his plate with even more comparisons.
So it was not amusing to watch him get on with the drive of the Volkswagen Vento with the kind of familiarity normally reserved for a south Indian breakfast. Once on the highway, he started pushing the unsuspecting 1.6-litre diesel for all it was worth. You could hear the engine pray for mercy after submitting every one of its 105 horses available, as Srini slalomed through slow-moving trucks, avoided Splendor riders and spared the life of ‘cows’ of the bovine and human kind that tend to fill up the highway to the capital from Jaipur. You don’t need a music system while Srini is driving — the cabin fills up with highly entertaining expletives that show his multi-lingual flair. But try telling him that — he will play Giorgio Moroder (who?) and Arabic songs while doing all of the above. And to think that he was accompanying me as a photographer this time!
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