Greetings Mutineers. I’ve been far from the home office for far too long and my current travels take me to the distant land of Seoul, S. Korea. If there’s a Little India out here, I’m sure I’ll find it. In between travels, I had some precious weekend time in San Francisco where Anna & I held a Mutineer Meetup (Brimful’s excellent writeup is here) and I snapped the shot below with my trusty cameraphone on my way back home.
My chronicle of the Desi conquest of America earlier showcased downtown SF’s gyms; we will now take to the streets –
You too can pick up an authentic Bajaj scooter from the SF Scooter showroom for a mere $2699.
Dunno about you but seeing that logo sure brought back the memories… As a kid, I was never really impressed with the Ringling Bros “10 clowns in a Volkswagen Beetle” act cuz I’d seen the real thing in da motherland. Except instead of 10 clowns in a spacious car, we’re talking about an entire Desi-sized family perched atop a rickety little Bajaj scooter while darting in and out of downtown Cochin traffic at high speed. Everyone’s a clown and noone’s an atheist on them roads.
In less space than a friggin’ Mercury space capsule, Desi families managed to squeeze in a couple kids standing single file between dad’s arms & knees, and a couple more clutching him from behind. But the real trophy goes to mom, dearest mom, who sat in the rear with her knees vise-gripped together and daintily off to one side, with kid #5 screaming at the top of his lungs whilst in her lap. Of course, the good wife never questioned her husband’s driving nor sense of direction. Truly a sight to behold – 7 people and nary a helmet between them.
By contrast, BajajUSA’s website prefers to go with some different imagery to entice American riders – 
Bajaj Auto Ltd. (pronounced “Baa-jaaj”) has been building motor scooters for the European and Asian markets for over 40 years. Their scooters have proven themselves to be strong and reliable on some of the roughest road conditions in the world.
Tough road conditions? Now that’s quite the euphemism. Clearly, the “export” models aren’t your uncle’s scooter from back in the day –
At 110 Miles per Gallon (per EPA City Cycle dyno tests) Bajaj scooters have the highest mileage rating of any 150cc scooter in the U.S… Very Low Exhaust Emissions meet the strict California emissions standards – All Steel Monocoque Body, provides a rugged chassis with classic motor scooter style – Powerful, high torque, smooth running 4-stroke engine
My memory may be hazy but Uncle Raj’s scooter was anything but “smooth running” or “low emissions”. Still, it’s interesting to see Bajaj also bring to the US market, the “3 wheel utility vehicle” –
The above photo was taken after having driven pre-production samples of each model at the Bajaj test track. That pleased look is genuine, these are great utility vehicles!
Drivers of San Francisco, your days are numbered. The tricked out Bajaj custom scooter in your rearview mirror might just be the scooter swami himself spewing some freeverse as he kicks mud in yo face.
the real genius in desi scooter riding comes in when not only is there a whole family on a scooter but also when they have their groceries, lumber and other shopping items somehow placed on there as well.
So do these things come with proper emission controls? And what’s their horsepower like to hop onto the interstate?
–Sant
The site says it conforms to california’s emissions regulations
I doubt you’d get one on a highway though, 9 HP?!?, the three-wheelers range from 8.2 to 8.5hp… amazing considering the work they manage to do
the only way I roll
How odd, I was just telling one other SM-visitor in London yesterday how I’d contacted Bajaj in order to buy an auto to rag around the UK city streets and she furnished me with this link, which enables you to rent or buy rickshaws in the UK. Overpriced, hence the reason I’m going straight to the source. I plan to make mine look something like this souped up one I drove in Sri Lanka.
Imagine it – a big phat pimped soundsystem cranking out the choons, chrome everywhere, Bollywood paraphernalia and a flashing perspex Ganesh on the dash, I’d be the toast of London town. I could even earn some pocket money giving pretty tourists a ride. TOOT TOOT(ing)!
Whoops, the choons link should’ve been this.
Hilarious, and true- I’ve witnessed similar feats while riding a “3-wheeler”, aka rikshaw (sp? no doubt mangled), in Gujarat.
Also- just pointing out: no statistics = brimful comments. 😉
Similarly, I keep seeing Bata sandal shops outside India, definitely in Paris and maybe in New York.
How odd. I’ve been considering various options to get out of my suburban hell and one of them involved buying a scooter. I would also take a functioning auto, but I think that would be more for kitsch love than functionality…and maybe some extra income 🙂
I’ll leave you with this stellar quote from the bajaj site:
“I’m a tiki maniac and added a hula girl seat cover, Shag stickers and a fun straw cargo bag to the back.”
Lovely.
is bata indian? they have a shoe museum here in toronto
Ever hear of Mahindra USA? While passing through some small Texas town, I turned on the AM radio to catch a ball game. I was floored to hear a commercial for Mahindra tractors. The accent was as Texan as you could get, his drawl still echoing in my mind as he pronounced “Mahindra”. Nothing except the “Mahindra” name would have even suggested a foreign origin.
Wow, Bata is Czech and Canadian. I always thought it was a consummately desi name.
At least Bose passes in the other direction 😉
Bata is currently a Canadian company. Wikipedia entry.
Check out Mahindra history:
I think every Indian has a moment in their life when they go “Bata’s NOT Indian?!” I actually made a pilgrimage to the first ever Bata, in Prague. Quite a religious experience.
Bata fled communism and moved to Canada. It’s big in many countries around the world, although I tend to see it more in relatively developed third world countries than in poor third world countries or rich countries.
Mahindra is a fascinating case. They tried to sell their jeeps around the world, cheap, but they had a lot of quality problems and had to stop. They’re a collectors item now, but they’re very temperamental.
I purchased a 2004 Chetak from San Francisco Scooter Center last year. The scooter is only 145cc, so is not freeway legal. But that didn’t stop me from commuting from Palo Alto to San Francisco all last summer… up El Camino Real.
You know how we roll! 🙂
It’s the perfect vehicle for driving to Komala Vilas in Sunnyvale for my morning uppma, idli, and vadai.
It’s so special that you could be here with me when I had my moment 😉
I think every Indian has a moment in their life when they go “Bata’s NOT Indian?!”
I sure did!!!
BATA IS NOT INDIAN??? OMG…
Well Manish, I’m a special kinda guy. Just happy I was here for you….
…ya sarcastic ****
True!
Wait how come no one’s said it yet? Nobody here ever saw those bajaj commercials? “Humaaaraaa bajaaaj!”
Be funny if they had a redneck singing a version of that.
Not sarcastic, BB. True, and maudlin.
Well, here is story of Mera Bajaj:
Getting your motorized two wheeler is a rite of passage in India, or at least it was when I lived there circa 1987-1995.
Usually people got the vehicles in progression of age and skill. Both, guys and girls often got Lunas, though most respectable men tried steering clear of it. The Luna suited women well as it was easy to ride, handle, and obviously women are bad drivers (saracasm). The Kinetic Honda was another two wheeler, though much different than the Luna, it was a speedster scooter gearless in its operation. You could only get a license for a geared vehicle after the age of 18. For gearless two wheelers, 16 was the age. Nobody followed these rules, literally NO ONE.
Families that could afford giving their sons powerful geared two wheelers got them a Vespa or a motorcycle like a Suzuki. Mine could.
I got neither. My elder sister got a brand new Luna, after a few years she got a brand new Kinetic Honda. My father, who deemed it unnecessary to purchase a nice motorcycle for me as a result of my impending return to Estados Unidos, thought the old Bajaj Cub would suffice.
The scooter was a work of art. It had been used and abused by everyone in the family for a good 7 years, including me. I learned how to ride it when I was thirteen. It was a great trainer, but for my image in school it was a joke. It’s like training to be a fighter pilot, learning on the trainer, then getting the trainer as your aircraft instead of getting the cool Tomcat. The white color, a basket in the front, and a worn tire mounted behind the rear seat cemented my position at the top in pantheon of memorable class jokes. Quite frequently, while zipping through the obstacle course that is Indian traffic, I would hear a loud “THUMP”, which was proceeded by a VERY loud sound from the vehicle, as if the muffler (AKA silencer) was taken off. It was, or more accurately, it fell off. I had the routine down: Pull over, put the cub on its stand, walk back, pick up the hot muffler with a handkerchief, throw it in the basket, and continue on to Tejas Vidyalaya, my school.
The first few times people were startled. “What the HELL is that, WHO is that?”. Their questions were answered as soon as they saw me park and try in vein to fix the muffler. Eventually people knew it was a sign that I was on my way, ready to smite the next person in class with a gaseous explosion induced by my bowels, or sneeze really loud disturbing the class, or try imparting some other worldly knowledge that I had obviously learned from the United States or the Readers Digest. Yes, I had arrived and people always took notice, thanks to my scooter: The Bajaj Cub.
In the late 80’s Chetak was one of the hottest ticket items. You had to enter your name into a lottery and were considered extremely lucky if you got one. Khivraj Motors near the Flyover in Chennai was one of the nations leading dealers! My dad got his for 13K …quite a sum those days!
It seeems Mahindra is the third largest selling tractor brand in North AMerica after Ford and John Deere
heh…I WAS LOOKING AT VINTAGE VEHICLES ..stumbled here.TVS 50 REPLACED THE LUNA.AND YOU DONT SEE THEM ANYMORE.SADLY