Memories of your first vehicle often evoke a deep sense of nostalgia and a variety of bittersweet emotions, but for actor Kalki Koechlin, it reminds her of her first encounter with liberty.
As an excited teen, Koechlin received her first vehicle — a scooter — on her 17th birthday. “It was a gift from my dad,” says the actor, who has been riding pillion on my father’s bike since she was a little girl.
Born to French parents, Joel Koechlin and Françoise Armandie, the 33-year-old actor grew up in a strict environment. Her parents separated when she was 15. “I think my father was feeling guilty about divorcing my mum and leaving us alone, so he gave me a really big present,” jests the actor.
Cherished memories
Thrilled as she was, Koechlin used the scooter to zoom around her neighbourhood in Bangalore. “It was my first sign of independence,” recalls the actor. Not reliant on her parents for transport any more, Koechlin used her new found freedom to stay over at her friend’s place for long hours. “I didn’t have to haggle with the rickshaw fellows too any more,” she quips. Being her first personal vehicle, the actor also used it to ferry around her friends and explore places in the city she couldn’t otherwise. “But I first learnt to drive in my parents’ car which was a Maruti 800”, recalls the actor.
Despite creating cherished teenage memories with the scooter, Koechlin remembers little about the vehicle. “I think it was a Bajaj scooty; my memory fails me,” she says. “And I’m also terrible with bike brands”.
Moving on
As the actor outgrew the vehicle, it was eventually sold off. “I’ve moved on to riding motorbikes now,” exclaims the Mumbai-based actor. Recently for a travel show, the actor biked for 14 days along with her biker and photographer father, traversing 4,000 kilometres across three States: Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.
While riding through the hilly regions of the North East on two Royal Enfield Himalayans, the father-daughter duo visited monasteries and chomped on piping hot momos. Braving the unpredictable weather, the two travelled through the low the plains of Assam and winding roads of Arunachal Pradesh.
Clearly, riding two-wheelers is still an act of liberation for Koechlin; not as a teenage escaping from her parents any more but an actor stealing a glimpse of bucolic life away from the cacophony of a city.
