Mr Francy and his Beetles

Image by The Brucer via Flickr

When I was a little we lived in a small village/town just outside Gampaha. Those were great times growing up in the village air with nice, kind people. Happy days.... I was only 3,4 years old. Anyhow there was this one shop called Francy Tarders (yep, I spelled it right :) ) which stocked these little plastic VW Beetle models. Nothing too fancy, just the body and 4 wheels in plastic (Made in China). They were cheap too so I'd always ask & Mom and Dad would always buy me 1 every time they went out. They were so colourful. They didnt just have regular blue, green and red. They were a rainbow of psychedelic colours. These had pastel shades of orange, pink, aquamarine, purple, turquoise and even luminous shades of yellow, lime, and many others. I didnt know all those big words then, but those little cars are still fresh in my mind after all these years.

I still remember walking into that lovely shop which had all sorts of knick-knacks, just like those magical-like shops you get in books. I'd always go with Dad. The owner knew me by name, I had come in so many times, and Dad was known a little as well as 1 of the Docs at the Textile Mill. The shop had these waist high glass display cases like in the textile shops, and the top rack was entirely filled with dozens and dozens of these little pieces of rainbow. Id gaze and pick and choose while Dad and "Mr Francy" talked (mostly about my lunatic antics I guess.)

In the end I had at least a 100 give or take. Thats not counting the ones that got broken over the years. It was a real sight to see, whether they were lined up at an imaginary parking lot, or running races around the Chair-Leg Forest and the Table-Top Flats. I think it was Herbie that got me hooked on Beetles back then. I loved that old film.

After Dad retired of course we had to move. And by that time our house was built here closer to Colombo. I was going to school too and I wasnt playing with the Beetles that much anymore. Mom was a teacher at the village school and she knew of a lot of small kids from poor families. So we ended up giving away all those toy cars. After all it was dead weight to bring along and this way someone ended up happy. A kind of going away gift.

We went back there recently after almost 10 years to settle some things. The town had changed a lot. It had lost the village charm. But some people remembered us. Mr Francy was no more, and neither were his cars. But the shop was still there. We didnt go in, and I dont know who runs it now, but it had the same old board proudly saying - "Francy Tarders".

And of course, I'll always have my memories....

(P.S just reposting something I deleted once)