Let me tell you at the outset that I am not an inveterate car enthusiast. The small car that I bought 11 years ago doesn’t look worse for wear even today. I am sure people will laugh up their sleeves if I reveal the kms I have clocked through all these years. It may sound a tad bizarre, but to be honest, I hardly experience any adrenaline rush while driving my car.
Curious neighbours in my housing society, who mostly discover my car sunbathing for most of the year, would often josh me about my car apathy. The paint of my wine-red car may have started oxidising, but it hasn’t completely lost its showroom shine even today. They wonder why I take the office cab, or the Metro, instead of driving my personal vehicle to work. In other words, they would have me believe that buying this car was the biggest mistake of my life. However, no amount of light-hearted banter can deter me from using my car the way I want to. I get the servicing of my car done regularly. Call it my idée fixe; I believe that no matter how much I drive, the car should be in working order.
My decision to buy the car a decade ago was solely dictated by the necessity of keeping a four-wheeler handy in times of emergency. Having said that, there are occasions when I bring my car out of hibernation and visit my relatives with my family. But this is more of an exception than the rule. Driving, to me, is for the birds. It simply drives me around the bend and robs me of my patience and sanity. I am more comfortable travelling by three-wheelers, or occasionally, cabs, to go to a shopping mall or a restaurant with my family.
My obsession with fitness is another reason for me to ditch my car. For the past many years, I have been using my vehicle in the morning to go to the market to buy the daily necessities. But of late, I prefer to walk. I am devising ingenious ways to distance myself from the four-wheeled contraption with each passing day.
Presently, I mostly use the vehicle to drop my college-going daughter at the Metro station. My wife suggests that I should now seriously think of selling the car and go for a new one. But I have put it on the long finger. Is there any point wasting money on a vehicle that would again end up as a decorative piece in our housing society complex? Meanwhile, I am planning to get the car dents fixed by a mechanic.
Aditya Mukherjee
Email: mukherjee.dashing@gmail.com