a decade long friendship

As many of you would be aware, I have a certain affinity for automobiles (that is it, I don't like bikes), which has it's roots deep somewhere within my system. Even if you left me on a desolate island, without food, water, or an iota of civilisation, 100 miles all around, I wouldn't be bothered at all if I had a beautiful, and a well made automobile somewhere nearby.

If' that's stretching things too far, then make it 10 miles :). 

Now, we own a couple of motoring-marvels, that has ever hit the Indian roads. Relax, I'm not talking about the Rolls Royce Phantom, or the Lamborghini Gallardo. What I'm referring to are cars that come from Asia itself ... the Far East, to be precise ... and they happen to be masterpieces in their own categories. One is the Qualis, manufactured by the largest automaker in the planet today, Toyota, and the other happens to be a Santro, made by the not so internationally popular Hyundai. While the Qualis has been taken off the assembly line by Toyota to make way for the (superior?) Innova, the Santro continues to be sold by Hyundai at a rate, rather alarming for the competition. 

This post is dedicated to the latter.

We bought the Santro, in the year 1999, as a replacement for our 1963 HM Amby. For ancestral reasons, we managed to get a registration number of 6000, to replace the Amby's 600 and it was some hot summer day in May, that I saw the Santro, glistening in the noon sun light, its metallic silver body scattering the light all around and illuminating the entire neighbourhood. That is when I actually fell in love with it. Well, the Santro was not actually designed to win beauty contests, but there was something about the car that .... just ... sort of .... captivated me. 

From that began the silver WB 02 J 6000 Santro's journey with us. 

Today, our Santro turned a decade old. A lot about the car has indeed changed ... let's be honest ... its clearly not what it used to be. But within these 10 years a hell lot has happened which has made me, and my family, bow our heads down to the Santro, and say "All Hail".

Here's the first jhatka. Our Santro ... believe it or not ... has clocked a staggering 160,000 kilometres in the odometer, that is a whopping 60,000 kilometres more than the guarantee period Hyundai had claimed. At this mileage, I would wager, no car in this country, would be able to serve its owner as well as this gentleman serves us today.

Here's the next, when in 2001, half of the City of Joy remained flooded owing to the incessant monsoons, and our Santro remained standing in the garage, with the water level up to the AC vents, we are sort of sure that he would not make it through, this time, and would require a complete overhaul. But surprises, and surprises!!! When the Hyundai service team came up ... no sooner had they drained all the water out from the car, this little master happily purred to life at a mere turn of the ignition key, and could make the full journey from our home to the Hyundai service station at Kestopur (nearly 18 kilometres) without the tiniest bother. Now the Santro came with a rather small engine, a 999 cc powerplant that developed a meagre 55 horsepower. Compare that with other Indian cars, and well, it seems pretty ordinary ... but 10 years of using this master piece has ensured that small can indeed be special ... very very special indeed.

This little master saw me through ten whole years of my school life ... right from class 3 till class 12, and shared all the ups and downs of my life as well. Now, slogging into its tenth anniversary he's not got much life left in him however. I dunno how I'll manage to live without him, for he's indeed become a very, very important part of my life. The facts are however pretty clear, he's go to go, beccause its not happening anymore ... period. Writing this itself brings a lump in my throat, a lump that speaks volumes of the tender relationship I have shared with him. The engine's become unresponsive, and the clutch simply won't take any more beating on the Indian roads. Even yesterday, when we took him out, scarcely had he we travelled 10 kilometres when with an absolute grating noise it screeched to a halt. Investigation revealed that the silencer system had got completely detached and was grazing along the road. 

But good thing is, I have achieved my dreams. Ever since I had seen this car, I knew that this was the car I had to learn driving on. Now that I'm through with my driving training, I'm going out every day in this little master on long drives all around the city ... from Salt Lake to Behala, from Dum Dum to Alipore ... and so on.

But deep within me, I know for certain that the day we bid adieu to him, that day will possibly be the worst day of my life, that's one reality I probably won't be able to face.