I was the first Indian cosmonaut in space. I got my first set of wheels the same year I boarded the Soyuz T-11 on April 2, 1984, from Baikonur Cosmodrome, in what was then the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. I spent seven days, 31 hours and 40 minutes on board the orbital station Salyut 7.
In 1984, I was training in Russia. We were not allowed to drive then, while we trained, but I bought a Nissan Cherry (aka Nissan Pulsar). I imported it from Copenhagen. Those were my first set of wheels. It was a jet-black hatchback and it drove like a dream. It was a European car and had heated seats. It was made for European conditions and quite the opposite of what we really needed in India.
It travelled by ship to India and was damaged in transit.
A fan for life: His first Nissan made Rakesh Sharma stick with them.
We had to get it repaired. But after that, I have to say, I did not change anything, not even a bulb. In fact, I had bought several spare parts when I purchased the car, and did not use any of them. I gave them away, free and still in their packaging, when I sold the car.
The car saw four postings, across 18 years. I have fond memories of the long drives to pick up and drop my kids off at boarding school. I also enjoyed driving between Nasik and Pune, Nasik and Mumbai and Ambala and Delhi.
The fastest I have driven is 130 kilometres/hour, when solo. I have stuck with Nissan. My next was a silver one, and I now own a red Nissan X Trail 2.2 CDI
As told to Pankaja Srinivasan
