Passionate about Palestine, anything that smells vintage, Piaggio Vespas, classic motorbikes and the iconic Volkswagen Beetle, Didarul Islam Sujan is a connoisseur of everything carrying history and aesthetic value.
On a Saturday evening, the Vespas were lined at the parking spot of the apartment where he lives; once I erased out the other cars and concentrated solely on the Italian beauties, a tantalising time tunnel opened.
On the other side was the image of a serene late 70s Dhaka: quiet roads, individual homes with ponds, billboards advertising torch batteries, contraceptives, white streetlights, traffic police in white and sergeants riding Honda bikes.
Once Vespa or Vespacar as they were called was the mode of transport for educated middle class families – refined with an air of gravitas.
People regularly offer to pay Tk15 lakh for this piece, said Sujan bhai, adding: “I smile and tell them that there are things in life on which one cannot attach a price tag.”
Looking at them as vintage items is one angle but for a historian, a Vespa or a bike from the 70s is like an invaluable link to the social ethos of a bygone era.
In the period immediately after independence, Bangladesh was grappling with multifaceted challenges: political upheavals, social malaise, economic hardship, natural calamities and a general feeling of unease.
But on the other side of the picture, life back then was less dominated by predatory ideals, social values, diligently passed over from generations, shaped ethos, the young grew up respecting elders and urban life was underpinned by simple but solid/scrupulous principles.
“When people come to me and want to buy a vintage bike to turn into an overnight collector, I request them to be patient; to get into the inner layers of anything vintage, one needs to understand the social mores attached to that particular item.”
I gave thirty years, starting in 1996, Sujan bhai tells me.
Maintaining a Vespa depends on how much a collector is willing to spend, I am told.
See, one can buy cheap tyres for a few thousand, but I chose Michelin, said Sujan bhai.
But there were also moments of exasperation.
At one point, when one Vespa continuously leaked oil, the collector wanted to get rid of it.
Fortunately, patience prevailed and that ride is now one of Sujan’s gems.
Interestingly, this two-wheeler from the sixties has some visible signs of wear and tear while no paint has been applied on it.
That’s the allure of the machine because if I paint it, the vintage value will immediately plummet, a smiling Sujan said.
A motorised vehicle with signs of wear and age is called ‘Patina condition’.
Along with the Vespas, he has several bikes from the 70s, notably a shiny black and maroon CD 90 Benly.
The passion red Honda S110 is another gem, which looks is if it had just come out of the showroom.
When asked about memorable experiences with the Vespas and the bikes, the collector becomes wistful.
I took this all the way to Cox’s Bazar, he pointed to the 1960s Piaggio Vespa.
As we were done with the Vespa and the bikes, Sujon bhai showed the ‘piece de resistance’ in his collection – a 1971 Volkswagen Beetle in shiny blue with a Palestinian flag proudly plastered across the bonnet.
This car has a fascinating story, he said, adding, “I bought it initially from someone else for Tk1.5 lakh and after returning the car to him, bought it again for a final time for Tk7 lakh.”
Sujan bhai has several VW Beetle cars, but this one has all the up-to-date papers.
He also drove it to Nepal in 2004 along with three other Beetles.
While the collector takes pride in his possessions, there’s a deep-seated feeling of indignation too because Bangladesh does not have special privileges or exemptions for classic and vintage cars.
As a result, owners of old vehicles feel it convenient to sell their cars to be scrapped, creating a historical void in Dhaka’s automobile history, feels Sujan.
“Due to absence of a special set of rules to facilitate vintage car owners, almost all vehicles of the past have disappeared.”
For my 1971 VW Beetle, I pay the same tax as the owner of a luxury high end car, says, Sujan, adding with visible resentment: “this cannot be fair at all because my vehicle is a classic car and, therefore, should be assessed under a special regulation.”
All countries in Europe have separate regulations for vintage vehicles and since our honourable Prime Minister used to live in the UK, he must be well-aware of such a provision, remarks Sujan.
“As owners of vintage bikes and cars, if we can present our case to the highest authority of the country, the much-cherished auto heritage of Dhaka and of the country can be saved from total disappearance.”
Sitting on his beloved two-wheeler from the 1960s, the avowed bon viveur strikes what is known to all as his signature pose: an ingenuous smile with the index finger pointing at the camera in the pose of a gun.
The flame still burns!
