The article, “ >Ode to the Ambassador ” (May 30), was very touching and nostalgic. Last month, while on the way to the temple town of Triprayar in Kerala, I spotted a row of over 30 sparkling white Ambassadors parked side by side. I happened to talk to one of the drivers and pat came his reply. “Sir, cars may come and go, but the Ambassador is there forever.” He added that in Kerala, the Ambassador will reign supreme. Whenever I travel with my family, I make it a point to hire an Amby. Nothing can replace the Amby or match its elegance and majesty.
Sivamani Vasudevan,
Chennai
My driver, Adam, refers to other vehicles by their brand names, but when it comes to the Ambassador, he calls it a car. I still remember my school days when there were only Ambassadors and Fiats on our roads.
Samad Kattali,
Chettippadi, Kerala
We had an Ambassador when I was very young, and my father always used to say “Ambassador jiasi gaadi aaj tak nhi ban sakti, hum khushnaseeb hain ki humne aisi gaadi chalai ” (A car like the Ambassador cannot be built till now. I was lucky that I drove it). He learnt to drive by constantly “gearing it” back and forth in the courtyard. Our Ambassador was used in every family wedding, a symbol of prosperity. But it will always have a place in our hearts. It once saved my grandfather from an accident by taking the brunt of all of it. He lived to tell the tale without a single scratch, while the car was repaired and back on the road.
Mani Agarwal,
Agra
Buying an Ambassador has always been an emotional and practical decision, the car being a “demographic phenomenon.” It had no bucket seats and could accommodate any number of people. I remember an Ambassador ride where the fuel pump conked out and one of the children in the family had to sit in the dicky and manually operate the pump. It was still a fairly comfortable ride except that a small crowd began running after the car, shouting, “Film-shooting is going on! The villain is hiding in the dicky!”
C.V. Venugopalan,
Palakkad
I was in Switzerland in 2007 and happened to visit a garage at a German town near the border. The owner, an experienced automobile mechanic, was telling us about all the car brands in Germany and in other parts of the world. When he got to know that I was from India, he exclaimed suddenly, “Oh you are from India. I like your Ambassador.”
K.R. Subbarayan,
Coimbatore
