Nineteen
CIAO BELLA ����������
We decided to call her Bella because she is truly beautiful. We travelled for 15 days for more than 2000 kms of good roads, with uphill tracks, hairpin bends. We were six of us in the car and a huge load of luggage. Not once did Bella groan, not once did she stall, neither did she give us a whiff of what a hippy could have done. She did not guzzle gas and did not ask for anything. She obeyed Bruno, who was at the wheel most of the time, while Matina drove a couple of times. Apparently this vehicle could hold up to 100 litres. She was a Volkswagen t4. She was built in the 1990 and similar vehicles like her were produced till 2003. Hopefully all of them were robust and sustainable. The person from whom the vehicle was bought is from Kosovo and 30 years back he was a pharmacist and drove a tractor. Once when he was in Switzerland, while on the road, he saw that an old man had fallen down and was bleeding. People were just passing him, not helping him. So, this guy helped the old man and took him home, took care of him and talked with him. Finally when the time came to say goodbye, the old man asked him to stay back and after much compelling, he stayed back and got his family also. The old man meanwhile taught him how to grow vegetables and fruits. The old man had two sons but they rarely visited him. The old man wanted to leave him all the money but the man from Kosovo was a gentleman and refused it and instead gifted him a small piece of land which when sold would be of great commercial value. The man from Kosovo sold it to make six million Swiss francs. He then got down to his hobby of buying and collecting cars and he has close to a 100 of them. He can now retire in his old farm house, but he likes to work. Bella was with him for 20 years and more. If the above reads like a fairy tale, then it is a fairy tale, as was our trip. A dream come true. Matina and Bruno have been visiting Hyderabad for a long time now, and we've been friends for the past 12 years and more and we have visited Switzerland twice already. Their ability to share and give is of a different order and I bow to that. I am feeling very grateful.
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