"Hamara Bajaj"

Try asking an average Indian about the origins of a Scooter. Though the correct answer would be Western Europe most Indians would reply Saying "Bajaj". That is how synonymous "Bajaj" become with the term motor Scooters. For generations, people referred to scooters as Bajaj. At its peak they were the symbol of ultimate acquisition. People would wait 6 months to an year for a Bajaj scooter, sometimes paying twice the market price to jump the queue. More often than not, prospective In-laws would ask the bride's family for a "Bajaj" in dowry. Many a girls would have fallen to the charms of the Oh-so-handsome guy who rode the Bajaj. They provided the perfect means of transportation for an average family, 2 adults and 3 minors. Men cared more about their Bajaj scooters than they care about their shiny cars. Learning how to ride them granted boys passage into manhood, and of course the title of the random errand guy around the house.


Some of the credit for Bajaj becoming such a symbol should certainly go to Lintas (Lowe - Lintas) now. A sort of a Benchmark campaign it symbolized the new face of India. "Hamara Bajaj" - the term encompassed a huge target audience . Whether the consumer or not it did lead to a very strong association with India. "Hamara Bharat" for once took a back seat for the whole country was overwhelmed by "Hamara Bajaj". Hamara Bajaj was a symbol of an India that was emerging of people that were traditional and yet modern, of a social idea called India that which was un parallel. If John Abraham is the poster boy for bikes, Amol Palekar on his way to the ration shop was the abiding scooter role model.


Bajaj with help of its landmark product helped capture the complex reality of the existence of India. If we try making the Indian Middle class into a product chances are it would be as the Bajaj Scooter. t had space to squeeze in a full family, a place to carry vegetables, a dickey to store sundry needs of the family- in short, it seemed safe because it catered to the all those stable, worldly things that made a man a "responsible" person. In days Hero Honda was coming out with "Fill it and Shut it Bikes" the scooter with its all covered up blandness , smaller wheel size and zero masculine ambitions carried around an so called "Air of Safety" . It had to be kicked incessantly, aggressive at first gradually pleadingly, it had to be tilted in the middle of the road for allowing the fuel to start flowing, the spark plug needed more cleaning than a Lee En field Rifle. But then for the middle class, living such frugal lives that even buying a fridge occasioned family summits , buying a scooter was the realization of a fantasy and "Bajaj" allowed "Middle India" to live this fantasy. Though being Restrained, repressed it meant mobility. It made shopping, getting to work, dropping children off at school and visiting relatives possible. Moreover, its price was, with some tightening of belts, just about within their reach.


With the advent of India's economic boom in the mid-1990s, the lifestyle of the middle class changed beyond recognition. With money to spend for the first time in decades, the old austerity went, replaced by a culture of consumerism and instant gratification. Scooters began to look like relics of a bygone era of deprivation. Bajaj was one of the casualties of the new prosperity though not for long as the success of the Pulsar has been good if not comparable to the heights of the Chetak. But then for most of the Indian middle class who did use the scooter celebrated the functionality of motorized mobility. At a time when we coped with scarcity with heartbreaking dignity, the Bajaj scooter was our imperfect solution. With the Bajaj scooter gone, we have lost a vital part of our connection with our sense of our own middle class-ness. It is not just Hamara Bajaj that is gone, but a reference point to our idealized way of life that is no more.