The Car That Was Not Mine

Enjoyed reading this snippet.

Car was a luxury for majority households in 80s and 90s (not any more). Mine and my classmates’ teenage dream was to own a nice car and take our mothers around to show off in the neighborhood . I wonder what would be the dreams of today’s middle class teenage boys.

 

Oh, this has been posted long ago. Sorry, just saw it today. Am surprised at the meagre response, considering how interesting and relatable the topic is. I enjoyed reading it. We did not have a car, though our landlord had a Fiat. We were often offered a ride when there was an urgent need, e.g. when my sister got married, when she had her kids to take her to hospital, when I got married ..... It was after a prolonged battle that I got my first TVS. I actually wanted a Luna but the waiting time for that was 8 years, where as TVS was available within a month or so. Eventually I did get a Luna after a few years and the thrill of being able to go anywhere and everywhere on my own was something beyond compare.

After I got married, BH tried to convince me to drive a Maruti 800. I was not mentally geared to drive a geared vehicle. So it was that once I rammed the car into the gate of my mil's house, once onto her lawn, another time into somebody's Maruti Esteem and finally into the wall of mil's house. After that I gave up the idea of ever driving a car until the automatic came into the market. I learned to drive, went on long drives ..... for about a year. After that thanks to various health issues which could put others on the road at risk if I was at the wheel, I gave up driving ..... I have no desire of seeing myself in handcuffs with my photo splashed across the first page of local newspapers. As for the Activa I drove for more than 10 years of my life, it is standing completely inactive in recent years.

 

Dear Hari Sir,

Thanks to @Greenbay for bringing this thread to my attention. It is a very interesting thread of how you ended up using variety of vehicles in India. I never heard of new cars being used by the founder and his family and then passed on to the executives.

When I worked for a premier R & D organization in Pune, none of us owned nor can afford to own a car. But we were all picked up by rental cars paid by the R & D organization. This privilege and phone are given only to senior level executives. Later when I joined the software industry, I was told that I was eligible to buy a new car of my choice at the cost of the company. However, one executive was fired before it was my turn to get a car and he bought a brand new vehicle only 3-4 months back. Therefore, I decided to get that car allocated to me instead of buying a new one. I learned driving in 1992 when I was in Trivandrum and obtained my driving license. However, my first driving experience to commute to work and back home was in Mumbai. I was driving everyday from Kandivli to Andheri for work.

Viswa

 

very nice snippet! I can relate to it in my current mood!

I come from a typical middle class family. Owning a car was considered a luxury in my family. I still remember my college days when i used to wait in the bus stops (where the buses dont stop!) and looking at every driver and passenger in all the cars and envying them. However, once i started my journey in MNCs, its a different story.

i can now say i that i have driven in almost most of the models available in the market today! Thanks to Uber and Ola, i can now say in which brand, which model is comfortable, which cars look spacious form outside but congested from the inside and so on....

recently me and my DH bought our first car. After long discussions and arguments and thoughts, we zeroed in on a compact sedan. However, my DH was so insistent on buying a 7 seater initially. So we tried looking at all 6 and 7 seater models...but every time i sat in one, i felt like it was another one of my office cabs.

Infact, the first time i sat in our own car, i felt i was in my office cab or in some Uber/ Ola cabs. But that feeling vanished the minute i started driving the vehicle. I started feeling my car. My car now has become a family member to me - if you know what i mean.

But largely, that wide-eyed lusty look i used to have when i looked at the cars back in those days is no longer there.

 

@HariLakhera & other feed-bCkies,
It is interesting dream of many coming to fruition in few cases sooner. In auto bans and special highways driving HER is a pleasure.
2. But in places where traffic density high or traffic bumper to bemper, the person behind the wheel must be cursing the world and public. Homes without car parking space compelled to occupy public platforms for parking in Indian metros.
3. For parking in public places corporation charge a fee. Safe parking is nightmarish without a rear camera vision.
4. With all this car market is spiked. More and more cars on the road but no drivable roads in the city. This is despite regulation and a ministry for road transport.
5. When hire and “fire” in the name of über or Ola why to drive with all these hassle. No worry of maintenance regular renewal of licence payment of tax etc.
call taxi just a phone call away 24x7.
6. In many places one drives virtually through carbon monoxide and other oxides carcinogens which exists to a height of 5 feet from ground over a long stretch!
7. I did not renewed my driving license of 20 years old and enjoy back seat driving.
8. I learnt driving of truck - ford Canadian - as a part of the engineering course when I carried big dreams of designing a car. After wedding, other dreams took over and those dreams had over riding priority in life.
8. In Ac car one breathes cool stale air not fresh air.
9. So with these pressures one would feel there is absolutely no pleasure in driving a car.
10. My experience of driving over a hill I attempted describing in my blog
Power & Promotion When Drive Is In Reverse Gear

Who ever still choose to drive her darling - I mean your limousine- happy driving throughout the new year too.
Regards.
God Bless us All Always.

 

I have felt that about cars and cameras. Modern designs don't fancy my imaginations anymore, they all look the same to me. I wish to own a vintage Fiat, still a dream. Someday.