Bonnet Memories

I was three years old, and we were living in an old two-storied house built by the Portuguese in Goa’s Vasco. One day, dad took me to a nearby temple where I found an old man selling toy cars. I asked dad to buy one. He said he would get me a real car soon. He fulfilled his promise once we returned to Attingal, our hometown near Thiruvananthapuram, after he quit the Indian Navy. I was sent to a pre-school. Every day, it was the turn of my uncles to drop and pick me from the nursery. One day, no one turned up, and it was getting late. I was a bit nervous, as all my friends had left. The teacher and I waited for someone to turn up. Soon I saw a black car coming towards the reception block, with dad in the front seat.

Dad said the car got a lucky number. He never believed in the so-called numerology though. The number was KLV 7383. The next morning when I got up, it was the aroma of burning incense sticks from the car that first attracted me to it. I got inside and started turning the steering towards left and right. Dad showed me the brake pedal, and I tried to press it with my right leg hanging from the steering. It took a long time for me to read the name of the car written in front of its bonnet. ‘Ambassador’, dad said. I ran my fingers on the silvery letters from A to R and vice versa.

The car had a character. It never gave us any trouble. And that’s the reason why it turned out to be a sad day when dad sold the car on the day I turned five. Dad didn’t want to sell it, but he had other ideas. Since the buyer was a nice person, he took care of the car well. We would see our first 1971 model Amby on our way to school quite often.

The second Amby we bought had a sky-blue colour. Before we could develop any relationship with it, dad sold it. He got a new green colour brand new Amby. New car was always special because it evoked a smell of newness. The paint, gear lever, steering, seats… each part evoked a smell of freshness. The most interesting part was the horn. When blown, it could even scare an elephant. If you talk about beauty, then no car could beat this green Amby those days. She was a queen. As a mark of respect, I still remember a crystal-type holder at the end of the gear lever.

Cars came and left. But only one still stays in mind. It was an affair in itself that I still cherish. Those days we would take the car to the workshop, and stay there until the mechanic finished the work. The chief mechanic never worked those days. He would sit and command. The poor trainees had to do all the work. Learning the work from a senior mechanic was a task indeed. And they had to pay for it. The car would be taken for a long ride after the engine work is done. For us, that was also a picnic. We would go to places like Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam stopping the car in between and pouring water to its radiator.

Even though KLV 7383 stayed with us for a short period, it literally got a place in every one’s heart. The man who we sold our first Amby used it for long. Later he would tell my dad that the car brought luck to his family which was running into huge debt. He believed it was after buying the car his problems were solved.

One day, dad took us to the nearby river to wash the car. My sister and I got out as soon as we reached the riverbed. Soon a lorry came to the spot to fill sand from the river. To clear the way, dad took the car reverse but he lost his control while doing it and the car moved towards the river. He applied brake before it touched the water. It was difficult to pull the car back from the muddy riverbed. “She was cool, and that’s why I could apply brake at the right time,” Dad said later, praising his first Amby.

All my uncles learnt driving in our KLV 7383 only. What else, those who used to clean the car later became great drivers. Some of them even owned one or two cars. They first learn the basic parts of the car while cleaning it, and then learn driving by paying some ‘extra’ to the driver. One day, dad saw our driver teaching one in a remote area. He didn’t ask him anything. Learning driving was not easy, and those days it was for one’s daily bread.

I grew up with many Ambassadors, but it was our first one that still occupies a place in my heart. I was lucky to see her once when I was travelling from Kottayam on the MC road. It was around 9pm and I was sitting in the front seat of a bus. As the bus took a turn, I saw a black car passing and its number plate was clear in the headlight for a moment: ‘KLV 7383.’

(Illustration: Mihika)