Welcome to My First Blog Post
03 May 2018
Since i started my Tour Company called Day in Cochin Tours in 2017, many of my friends and colleagues asked me " Why don't you start a blog ? " When i replied that I don't have that much writing skill and it never suit for my attitude to sitting in front of a computer for long time. Literally I am not expert of any of these Writing and Reading. So please bear with me , if there is any grammar / Spelling mistakes and please feel free to share your advice and communicate with me along the way !
Let me introduce myself. My name is Vijesh, a freelance Tour guide from Cochin. I born and brought up here. Since 2008 I have been providing my service as a Tour guide / Trip Leader for Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka.
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| My Tour Guiding License |
To be honest it was not my first choice to be in Tourism Industry, but it was solidly in my father’s dream that I should be a Tour Guide in South India, So he taught me a lot of things after my graduation in BA Economics. ( This Degree was just to fulfill the desire of my father ) My father was a Taxi driver, mostly worked with foreign tourists , that inspire me to link with Tourism and Slowly I start learning from him. The perfection of his job, his honesty, sincerity, his knowledge in routing and communication skill in English language. In many occasions I worked with my father as a Airport rep for Holding placards and receiving Tourist from the airport. He was a greatest inspiration. On 2014 I passed my Tour guiding exam conducted by Govt of India, now I am a freelance Tour guide, but my experience in Tour Cordinating and conducting is for the last 10 years.
I love Travel , Photography, Trekking and Vintage scooter collections ( That's my Hobby ) Riding my Vintage scooters makes me feel good and tension free. Very passionate with Old scooters.
This is my Scooter Story , an Article came on The Hindu Newspaper on 03, April 2017
A museum of wheels & Vintage Scooter Tour in Cochin, Kerala.
After he became a tour guide, Vijesh realised the value of antiques from
sentiments expressed by his clients, mostly foreigners. It dawned on him that old-world
curios were truly valuable, and that these were a link to our past and roots.
He wanted to share this precious connect, especially with his children. This
realisation led him to buy old models of TVs, a few radios, clocks and
furniture and he soon had a small collection of quaint, disjointed objects.
“The TV sets that we now have are so different from the ones we began watching
TV on,” he says. But the TV sets posed a problem with their thickset bodies.
His mother cast them out of the house.
So when he purchased his first scooter he parked it at a friend’s house. The
second one, Bajaj Priya, a rare model with “only three gears and a duck shaped
back”, made his wife cry. The situation was quite ironical; he could not bear
to see the scooters being junked, nor could he let Sibina cry.
But soon things changed for the better. While acquiring his first two
scooters, Vijesh managed to build a network of like-minded people. In 2011, he
organised an exhibition of two-wheeled rarities in Fort Kochi and it drew a
huge response.
“The appreciation was very encouraging; it managed to bring a slight change
in my mother and wife’s heart,” he says.
His FaceBook page—Old Town Scooter Club Cochin—activated the interest on
social media. The exhibition and the online publicity made Vijesh a serious
point man for such vehicles. Mechanics, workshop owners, auto dealers, scooter
owners and spare part stores got in touch with him.
“When I see a person with an old scooter I don’t ask them to sell it to me,
but encourage them to preserve the period automobile,” says Vijesh, who labours
over the restoration.
In 2013 he took a sabbatical to concentrate on tourism studies in Nellore,
all the while eyeing such old machines.
On return, he purchased a 1982 model Bajaj Priya from Mysuru. The Vijay
Super TDV excites him no end. “It’s a dream scooter, made for college students
in the 70s and 80s. It’s a model introduced by an Indian Company,” he says,
recollecting his mania over these Bonnie Well style scooters used by Mammootty
and Mohanlal in old Malayalam films.
A memory of his youth is of surreptitiously riding his neighbour’s Vijay
Super, and parking it spot on before the owner returned. “In fact that’s how I
learnt to ride the scooter,” he says happily.
A few years ago, he paid a high sum to purchase another scooter, to add to
his increasing collection. He parked it in a friend’s house, away from the eyes
of his family. Last year, he spotted a 1986, Lambretta in Kayamkulam while on a
bus to Thiruvananthapuram. He got off and met the owner. “Over a nice cup of
coffee we struck a deal at Rs. 35,000,” he says, adding that the price of the
piece has multiplied four-folds.
His latest additions are the Bajaj Cub from Thrissur and the electronic
Bajaj Chetak, 1990 model.
“All my scooters are maintained and in top condition. I have the
documents—insurance, pollution certificates and such in order,” he declares.
The Bajaj Priya was used in the film
Beware of the Dog in 2013, while
another one was taken to be used in the film
Ezra . But Vijesh brought
it back after he found it was not being handled with care.
He has decided to share these scooters only with genuinely interested people
and is now busy building an all-Kerala scooter lovers’ fraternity.
“There is a sizeable population in the State that is truly interested in old
scooters. I can help owners with any issues they have regarding their vehicle,”
he says.
His sincere love is evident when he talks about it as an ideal common man’s
vehicle, affordable and functional.
Next on his wish list is to own a Vespa, but he is not interested in gear
less, electronic modes, the modern versions.
Many things have changed from the time he gave into this passion. There have
been highs and lows, but now his collection is bringing him appreciation from
all corners. He is, of course, pleased that his family has come around. His
mother loves his vehicles and Sibina is ready for a ride, “any time now,” he
says "
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| with my Daughters |
" When I see a person with an old scooter I don’t ask them to sell it to
me, but encourage them to preserve the period automobile
the company to make 1,000 autos in 
