His Passion for Cars

He loved the cars more than anything materialistic in this world even when he was a child. I can remember the way we made friends. He asked me to draw the picture of a vehicle. It was not a car but a bus. I sight copied that from a kid picture book. Later that day I drew a sports car.
Whenever he came to his father’s office he would request someone to draw the picture of a vehicle. Pankaj Pathak, the cartoonist/artist, drew many vehicles for him.
Later as a teenager his love became passion. I can recollect someone gave him a big calendar with the picture of slickest cars in the world. He kept it as a great asset.
He loved The Fast and The Furious Movies. He enjoyed the trilogy many times. The last time we met we had a rather long conversation. He told me once, ‘Alam Chachchu, do you know, in reality these movies are the publicity for cars?’
He even told me about his Porsche Cayman. He was not bragging but like informing a friend about his possession. He was like shining then.
I can remember his inclination to nice cars started when he was very little. He had many small toy cars. He had a Motor Grader (like one in the picture), which was a small replica of a real one, which was really something to be attracted to. I remember we played together with that, I was in my 30’s but I enjoyed playing. You know a child always lives in you.
We have played with his Nintendo too; it was a first generation console played with cartridges. I don’t remember the title of the game but it was one of his favorites. It was a car racing game (in fact he had more than one of the racing titles). Some time he insisted me to play. I was worse in playing game; in fact I was a disaster. I was never being able to stay steady on the road. So I would usually hand over the controller. He would always be able to finish first or second. Whenever his Lamborghini or Porsche exceeded 200 mph he would be ecstatic.
Like I said he had a great passion for vehicles, no matter it is a bus or a sports car. It was a late winter afternoon. Most likely a weekly holiday. He father told me, ‘let’s go to the Meena Bazar (a sort of one /two day fair) in Gulshan.’ I always avoid this kind of crowd. This time I tried again. Adnan requested me, ‘Cholo Na Alam Chachchu.’ (Please come along Uncle Alam). I could not refuse his soft tone, I never could. His father did not tell me why we were there. He was keeping that a mystery. We struggled through the gate. Later we came close to a stall where a wooden truck was displayed, in a flash I perceived why we were there. I can remember his father had to buy that with an illogical price. After purchase we did not wait there for long. I also remember we took a rickshaw to the car as it was parked farther.
He loved driving. Once or twice he drove there car without his father’s permission when he was underage. His father scolded him for that.
One of his playing mates was his cousin Sirin. He was often called to their residence to accompany him to play soccer or cricket. Sirin once complained that,' I never will ride with Adnan Bhaia, he is a rough driver.’
Another incident I heard from Adnan, though it rather could turn to an accident. He with his father were coming back home from somewhere else. Their Toyota Four-runner was waiting in the crossing for green light. A high speed bus struck the Toyota from back. I heard that the car went round more than once and there was a risk of fatality. He survived that.