Pink City and a White Ambassador…

In modern day Indian road which is dominated by new generation automobiles it is a rare sight to find a padmini fiat, an ambassador, a luna or a bajaj scooter. But there were days when these were the kings of Indian road. But with the passage of time and with the arrival of new improved model of cars, SUV in the market these models have taken a back stage. Recently a decision has been taken to phase out maruti-800 from the Indian market. During its hay days one has to book a bajaj scooter or maruti 800 well in advance and be in the waiting list to get the scooter.  These were the commodities which can be best described by the Onida’s tagline “Neighbor’s Envy and Owner’s Pride” (Some of you may remember the old Onida ad, with a man with horns. With the latest sensation NANO by TATA groups a lower middle class Indian who survives with hand to mouth is able to dream of a 4 wheeler for his family. But a recent failure in NANO (two NANO caught fire in the middle of the road) also questions the durability of the model. With euro-3 standard of emission control to be enforced in India shortly German and Japanese automobile companies are marketing their high end cars in India.

Modern day cars have as many as 16 electronic control units and all of them are connected by CAN (controller area network). The EMI and EMC problem of the spark plug has been minimized to the lowest possible level. The power steering, power brakes, microcontroller based precise timing and control of ignition function, with a comfortable interior with CD player, HVAC system, lots of security feature adds lust to the cars. The comfort level of travelling and driving has increased many folds in the recent times. But sometimes this comfort of the car and thrill for speed causes devastation. Late night drunken driving in metros has killed several poor people who were sleeping on the pavements. Speed and the influence of alcohol is a deadly combination which is further coupled by the various built in technology of the cars. In today’s car you can take a U turn in a very high speed but if you loose control for a fraction of second then you are at our own peril. 

My father as a doctor annually attends the APICON conference which takes place in different places every year. This year the venue of APICON conference was Jaipur, Rajashtan. The next year it will be held at Ahemadabad, Gujrat and in 2012 it will be held at Kolkata. Every year my father along with my mother goes for the conference and any one of me or my sister gets to the venue according to our convenience. So it becomes an annual vacation for our family. As I am staying at Patiala, I went to Jaipur to accompany my parents. The journey was like long and seemed to be endless with the infamous north Indian cold and fog in January. My father had hired a car for our convenience. But to our surprise a white ambassador greeted us within some minutes. It took me some time to realize that I am going to ride an ambassador, the undisputed king and the royal carrier of Indian roads in its golden days after a long time. While sitting on the front seat beside the driver when I tried to put on the seat belt the driver said, “Chod do saab, sab sochte hain ki government ki gaadi hai.” So this is the respect an ordinary ambassador gets in Indian roads. The smooth pick up and ruggedness of the ambassador can put to shame to any modern day car. By sitting in the ambassador I remembered my childhood days when we owned a padmini fiat. The sky blue color fiat was our constant companion for many years to come. After that my father upgraded the car to a wagonR. After 7 years my father again upgraded the car to a red color Jazz from Honda, the latest sensation of Indian automobile market.  

Travelling in the pink city in the ambassador was a unique experience. The driver showed us the site of the jaipur bomb blast, the site where 5 tankers of IOCL burned for weeks, the different sites where different bollywood film shootings were held, the house of Late Maharani Gayatri Devi, Amer fort, city palace, jal mahal. He also elaborated the guzzar problem in detail and gave his own opinion why BJP lost the previous election and the rising problem of illegal encroachment in the city. We had a dinner at chaukidani, a restaurant which resembles a typical Indian village. All together the journey was an excellent and we enjoyed a lot.