The first car I really loved (and my wife hated) was a blood-red Tata Safari! I bought it when I was still a teacher at a military school in Richmond Town, after two unsuccessful car purchases: a second-hand Ambassador which I sold within a couple of weeks, and a Maruti Gypsy that I spent a few lakhs to have remodelled.
My wife was angry when I bought the car, but I pacified her saying we could go out to meet our relatives and travel with friends. I remember driving down the Malabar coast — from Goa to Kerala — in the Safari, on holidays and to exhibitions. It was so big it felt like a house. My daughter and I had a ham radio, with which we used to stay in touch to find out the weather and location details. I took a break from the car when she went to study at Santiniketan.
Once I came back, I bought a more compact sedan — a Toyota Corolla — to drive to hotels, parties and exhibitions, because the Tata Safari was too big. It was then relegated to its parking space at my house, and a friend said it would be wise to sell it. So I did, after 10 years of companionship, for almost a quarter of its original price. I took care of the car like it was a family member. I had travelled 50,000km in it, and most often, it was a holiday. We would go to local spots like Nandi Hills or Hogenakkal or drive down to Nrityagram, when its founder Protima Bedi was still alive, and spend a few days there.
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Once, on a drive to Puducherry for a workshop, we met with an accident. A boy ran into the car at Krishnagiri and we had to take him to hospital. Luckily, there were no injuries and he recovered in a few days. But the villagers threatened to burn the car and we were saved by another group who pointed out that it wasn’t our mistake.
Ever since, I sit in the rear, on the left. I don’t usually drive unless I’m going somewhere in the city, and if my brother is with me, he drives. Of course, since the Uber revolution, I take a cab everywhere.
Earlier, landlords would have a horse or an elephant as their personal modes of transport. Today, these have been replaced by cars. But I worry about their effect on the environment, even though they are essential means of transport in the city. It is easy to walk in villages, but one can’t even walk in the cities, what with the traffic and the lack of footpaths.
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As told to Harshini Vakkalanka