What is your all time favorite automobile?

Photo credit: https://www.autocarindia.com/auto-features/remembering-the-bobby-417104

It was 1984. I had joined a research institute as a research scholar for my Ph.D., and I didn’t have a bike. I was still riding my father’s bicycle that I inherited from him. I threw tantrums saying ‘all my friends have bikes, I want one’.

I had my eyes on what most of my friends had, Yezdi, a smart looking bike from Ideal Jawa (India) Limited. I managed to convince my elder sister, who in turn convinced my dad.

I went out to purchase my ‘dream bike’. But something else was stored for me. The bike (Yezdi) went out of stock and the waiting time was too long for me to wait.

I went to the showroom next door and saw this cute little bike.

It was perhaps not meant for a person like me who is 5.10 (feet), as the bike stood at two-and-a-half feet from the ground. I was rather adamant to ride home on a bike that day, and I bought it.

It was named the Grand Tourismo Sports or GTS 175. Later I heard that the last of the model was rolled out of the factory in the same year (1984).

I rode it for almost 12 years. It was fun to play with the toy. It looked tiny but was extremely powerful with an engine capacity of 175 cc. Even the smart looking Yezdi that I had my eyes on was riding on a 175 cc engine. I could outsmart most of my friends in a quick race. I was proud of it.

I sold it post my marriage, as my wife refused to be mocked on this little cute wonder when we both sat on it.