Helmet

We finally decided to get rid of my of old scooty, which had lot of troubles even after multiple servcices, repairs and change of parts (battery, coil etc). The price was bit high and we had not planned earlier for the new scooty. So eventhough we got a good deal from the TVS dealer for exchaning the old scooty, the price looked heavy to us.

I wanted to make the amount as less as possible and tried to check on the list of accessories that can be avoided. I told that I dont need a helmet lock and we need not waste extra money for that. In the Office parking area, we normally hang the helmet in one of the mirrors or place them over the seat. This is how it has been for so many years. I use the vehicle only for the home - office commutation. So what is the big use for the helmet lock. Also it will hurt the person who sits in the pillion (the only souls to trust my driving are my sister and Mother-in-Law) if by any means someone wants to come with me.

The helmet I had was brought some eight years ago. It is a black colour, fully covered helmet (Wrangler - gold) with white dots. The white dots are not by design or for fashion. It was because of the cleaning that I did after keeping the helmet idle for an year in the attic . It was a snug fit one for my head. It looked bit old with lot of scratches in the top as well as on the glass. The only issue was that, most of the times while removing it, my hair will be pulled and hair would also come along with the helmet. It had few kumkum markings inside (do not imagine a thilak put inside the helmet with some belief. It was because of the kumkum that I keep on my head). Othwerise it was a perfect helmet. So I decided to stick with the same helmet and never thought of getting a new one.

The D day arrived, and I took my new scooty pep+ to the office with my old helmet. I never bothered to think if anyone would see/comment on the new scooty and the old helmet. I religiously parked the scooty in the usual place and hanged the helmet on the mirror and went to the office. I was talking over the mobile while reaching the parking slot in the evening. I was stunned to notice from the entrance that my vehicle was missing in the usual place. Disconnected the call and hurriedly rushed towards the place where I had parked the vehicle. I was relieved to find that the new scooty pep+ was indeed in the same place only, but only the helmet was missing. Actually, I had tried to identify the vehicle by the helmet as usual, because there were lot of scooty pep+ in that parking. I was confused to see that the helmet was missing on the mirror, but was on the foot resting area. I lifted it up to find that it was a different helmet and not mine. This one was even more old (worse I should say) with the inside cloth area torn and hanging outside and was smiling at me .

Should I think that "thalaiku vandhadhu thalaipagaiyoda pochu" i.e instead of a big trouble, small trouble came and went confused2:somebody please help me translate the proverb). Or should I think that the person who took my helmet should have really had a noble thought of reminding me to get a new helmet while riding a new scooty :?:.