“Amby” in city of joy

Calcutta (Kolkata) – the mega city of Eastern India. In this vibrant city with a distinct socio-political culture, cabs are the grand old Ambassadors from Hindustan Motors, and most cars are manufactured at the nearby plant of Uttarpara. This picture was taken next to the major long-distance Sealdah Railway Station, highlighting that the city of joy still struggles with traffic congestion. Unlike other major cities where Tata Indica, Fiat, or Maruti are common hired forms of mechanized transport, this city has almost all taxis as amby, painted in yellow.

Before Maruti, it was the only car on Indian roads. This reminds me of my childhood when my brother and I used to identify a Mark-II, Mark-III, or Mark-IV by its sound (all these models looked very similar). It was a silly game in the era of Nintendo – Wii. The game was simple - we used to hide behind a wall, hear an Ambassador approaching, try to identify it by sound, and confirm as soon as it passed by.

While writing this post, I found the webpage of this car and discovered 10 reasons to buy it:

1. First Indian car – born in 1950 (inception in 1948. Originally based on Morris Oxford, United Kingdom)
2. Power Steering – Trying to match up the new market with Maruti, TATA, Honda, and Toyota.
3. Multi Fuel Injection – Well, all new cars have that - what a big deal?
4. Company fitted CNG – Well, you can convert almost every petrol car in India to keep your running cost as low as 1 Rupees for 1 KM.
5. Tough
6. Tough - tested on Indian roads for a long time, but why list the toughness twice?
7. Roominess - Yes, more than 10 people can travel in a single car at a given time!!
8. 5 Speed Gearbox - Another lame reason; all cars nowadays have the same.
9. Easy repairable – They claim across the country all mechanics know the car inside out.
10. Serves the country – Used by the Indian Army and de-facto car of Indian bureaucrats and politicians.

If I ever have enough money, I would like to have a chauffeur-driven Amby for myself, just to hang out in nostalgia, or in the roomy car, or to be different from everyone else! My eleventh reason or maybe the only reason for having this car.