Sunday, November 15, 2009

Cars

Here's what I know about cars in India:

My grandmother, when she was alive, was driven around in a white Hindustan Motors Ambassador, which wikipedia reveals has not undergone any significant revisions since the late 1950's. These cars are still very much made and sold today, though not as ubiquitous in Calcutta as they once were.

They have seatbelts, now.

When I was younger, they were part of the miracle of India, for me. They looked nothing like the boxy, angular station wagons of the 80s nor the sleek sedans that came later, and they suggested to me (for good reason, it turns out) the rounded, full-bodied elegance of old grey British motoring. Subsequently I began to see in them something closer to Cuba's crazy time capsule.

Little did I know what lay beyond West Bengal.

My mother's father, who worked in Delhi for the most part, had a little Fiat that my mom would drive. In my mind's eye he is a thin, elegant, bespectacled government official of forty-some-odd who managed to look comfortable in the 1970s, somehow, and she has owl glassed and long, long hair. And their Fiat is bulbous, with an over-sized windshield and a light-green paint job.

Spending time in Delhi this trip, for the first time since I was little, all of a sudden there were many, many cars. The Chevy, in the picture above, for instance, was unexpected, as were the occasional BMW and Mercedes, and, most elegant of all, a Volvo with flags streaming at the windows. I saw two Fords, just about. Mostly it was Japanese cars - Suzuki is a mainstay here, having gotten in early as a joint-venture with Maruti, an Indian firm with a funny name. Toyota and Honda are catching up, though, Sonatas and the occasional Civic. A CRV looked huge, trundling down the street.

Back in Calcutta, which lacks Delhi's power and Mumbai's commerce, the streets are still filled with Ambassadors. The plant where they are made is in-state, and maybe that has something to do with it as well. But even here they are giving way.

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