Just yesterday, my wife and I bought a 2005 Honda CR-V SE for our older daughter, Shivangi. It is a beautiful car – black in color with tinted glasses and about 40K miles on it. We surprised Shivangi with the car and it was fun to see her reaction.
The effort wasn’t easy, by any means. We (I) had to do a lot of research and finally settled on this car. Of course, my daughters just complicated the matter as they kept eyeing different cars. One wanted a Mustang and the other wanted a cute Smart car! I wanted safety as the top priority (and that rules the Mustang out from my list). Finally, I just decided to do this on my own. It helped that one of my colleagues at work was the neighbor of the dealership owner.
We shelled out $5K for the car – roughly about 1/3rd of the asking price, as down payment. The deal went through in under 2 hours and we drove the car back. As my wife and I got talking in the night, we realized the enormity of the situation. Our daughter had grown up and we could now give her a responsibility of driving a vehicle. I’d have never thought of buying a $16k car for my kids in India (that is like a Rs.800,000 vehicle!!).
My wife and I thought about our younger days --- our first vehicles and those of our parents. My first vehicle was an old beat up ladies cycle (Landmark was the brand). I got it as a gift for standing first in my class in grade 5th. I believe my father bought it from a friend for about Rs. 75/- (back then, the USD traded for about Rs 8/- -- so this was like a $9 bicycle). After the initial euphoria died, I realized that all my friends had cool looking racing bikes while I had an old beaten ladies bike. By the time I was in the 7th grade, I found it embarrassing to ride to school on a ladies cycle. When I reached my 9th grade, my dad got me a red BSA SLR, another used cycle he bought for about Rs150/- (by then, the USD was trading at Rs 18 to a dollar, so this was again under $10/-). I loved that cycle and used it till I finished my graduation in Holkar Science College. Only once did I buy a new cycle – in 1983 when I was studying in my final year of B.Sc in Holkar Science College. It was a beautiful red colored Hero cycle. I paid Rs.400 for it and sadly, it was stolen within the first week from the College cycle stand. Fortunately, I still had my old BSA to ride.
When I went to Pune to study for my engineering, I ended up buying a used cycle in my second year (called sophomore in the US), for Rs. 200/-. One fine day, when I was returning to my hostel, my friend Dhananjay Ashtekar needed a ride so we decided to ride doubles, with me sitting on the bar in front. As we rode on a over bridge, the bike hit a pot hole and all of a sudden, I found myself staring at the front wheel of the bike moving to the left and the tar of the road approaching my face. I took evasive action and put my hands in the front to lessen the impact of the fall. That helped and I thought I was fine, until Ashtekar came and landed on my head, hitting it on the tar. Realizing that I was on a busy downtown road, I reacted and quickly pushed him away and rolled over to stand up, just as a car and a scooter screeched to a halt near us. A good Samaritan got us the wheel and helped us get to the side, where I realized that my shirt was soaked in blood – I had a broken nose, thanks to Ashtekar falling on my head. To make a long story short, and to remain focused on the tale of vehicles, I eventually made it to my hostel with a swollen face, a messed up shirt and a broken bike and nose. Raja and Arun, my other good friends, came over promptly and took me to the hospital where the doctors pumped me with injections and wanted to keep me in the hospital to rule out any head injury. Fortunately, I was fine and things got back to normal. But I learned a lesson – never to buy a used vehicle with out proper inspection.
I was able to convince my dad that I needed a Luna (a simple moped) in Pune (it was always Dad – my mom never fell for these. If she had her way, I’d have become an expert in the Pune Bus system known as PMT). So in 1987, I ended up buying a Luna for about Rs. 4000/-. Boy, did I take good care of it – never missed a scheduled servicing or maintenance. That was the vehicle I used to receive my wife Nandita, when she visited me there (yes, for those who don’t know, I married her in 1987, just before starting my junior year). That was the vehicle I used to runaround to complete my projects and run errands.
Once I landed back home, I started using my dad’s Kinetic Honda. When my dad was a kid, the British ruled India. My grandpa was the jailor at the central jail in Indore. They were fairly well to do and eventually even bought a car. But the luck changed when my grandfather succumbed to injuries he suffered while suppressing a jail riot. My dad was then in high school. His first vehicle was a Raleigh bicycle – a beautiful piece with gears and dynamo driven lights. The bike was passionately maintained till the 80s, when he gave it to his friend’s brother. In the 70s, when he and my mom were building our house, it got tiring for him to cycle around from work to home to the construction site. So, they bought a Suvega, a 50 CC moped. When I reached my 8th grade, he sold the Suvega and bought a Hero Majestic, another 50 CC moped, which he rode till 1988. It was a beautiful green colored vehicle that he loved and maintained very well. We also bought a Luna for my mother. It was a very simple living for us – they were simple people and preferred spending their money on the kids’ education. Both my parents were doctors and could have splurged on themselves had they wanted to. So while we (my sister and I) received the best available education in expensive schools, my parent toiled.
In 1988, after my marriage, my dad bought a Kinetic Honda. It was a red colored 150 CC scooter that was built by Honda in Japan and sold by Kinetic, the same company that made the Luna. I still remember the number plate – MKE 3718. I remember the time when I picked it up from the shop and rode it home, along with my dad. Nandita was standing on the terrace and saw us as we turned into the lane towards the house. I could see her get excited and run down to meet us. She then took the scooter for a ride. It was the most expensive thing we had ever bought until then and it cost all of Rs.14000/-. The vehicle was considered to be very fragile – so much so that my cousin quipped if we had receive a matchbox free with the scooter to light it up in case of a fall or accident. ?. He now has two himself.
After my father had his first heart attack, in 1992, we started looking at old cars. I remember spending a couple of Sundays with my father, walking amongst the used cars in the Car Melas in Indore. Our budget was about Rs. 50000/-. However, that was never to be. He passed away in Feb of 1993. Then, his close friend and our neighbor, Dr. Mukherji was selling his Fiat. I knew that dad was keen to buy that car and so offered to pick it up. I ended up buying it for Rs.90,000/- (USD $2200/- back then) . The funny part was that I didn’t know how to drive. But that has been the story of my life ( I bought my first album (Band on the Run by Wings, before I bought a record player, my first CD before I bought a CD player). But that was never a hassle - it turned out that I was pretty good at it. I picked up the art of driving like a fish takes to water and drove around the town with the help of a driver in the local Special Armed Forces Unit of the MP Police, where my older sister was the Superintendent. By then Shivangi was about 2 years old. We drove from Indore to Bhopal in June of 1993 for our first long drive. The Fiat car was called as Premier Padmini and was a fairly decent car. It was, like most cars in India, a stick shift vehicle. The cooling system was water driven and I had to stop after every couple of hours of driving to refill the radiator and allow the car to cool down. But I loved the car.
In 1993, we decided to sell the Kinetic Honda and buy another one. So, we bought a black one (MP-09H-1678) for about Rs 20000/-. The USD was by then close to Rs 50/- per piece, making it about $400/-. I used this vehicle till the day I left India in 2000. Also, in 1996, we eventually grew tired of our Fiat and sold it to a friend for Rs50000/-. He used it for another 7 years after that, for his local commute. We on the other hand, picked up a Maruti Suzuki, a 800CC vehicle from a neighbor for about Rs. 180000/-. This for us, was the ultimate mark of luxury back then. I used this car till December 2000 and sold it to my tax advisor for Rs. 100,000/- in order to raise some money to move to US.
We landed in SFO in November of 2000, when I took up a job with AT&T. We decided to live in San Ramon, about 4 miles from my place of work. For the first couple of months, we did not own a vehicle. We chose a place close to an elementary school, so that the kids would have the convenience of walking to and from school. I found out that the only public transport available were two buses that plied at 7 AM and 7.20 AM, to take me towards my work place and would return back at 3 PM. Since there was no way, I could leave my work at 3 PM, coming back in a bus was ruled out. I did use that bus to go to work, but had to walk several times as the bus wouldn’t show up. The area was too posh for people to use the buses. Then, my wife found that the dad of another kid in the same school worked at Chevron, right across from AT&T and would be happy to give me a ride. So, I’d stand outside my apartment complex daily at 6.30 AM in the winter (it was December/January of 2000 and it was cold ( remember, I was just coming from India!!!) for Jitendra to come and pick me up. He also let me drive around the town in his car to help me get used to the rules in the country.
Then in February, Jitendra, Nandita and I drove around to visit all the car dealerships looking at cars. After spending a couple of weekends, we ended up at Hyundai in Dublin and after spending the entire day in the shop, ended up buying a new Hyundai Elantra for $13000/-. Jitendra put in our down payment of $3000/- (which I later returned over a period of 3 months). It was a stick shift vehicle, much like the vehicles we drove in India (and like Jitendra’s vehicle, that I had used to learn driving in the US and to get my license). The car was simple and cheap but nice. It gave us about 32 miles per gallon.
In November of 2002, a friend’s neighbor was moving to Europe due to the economic downturn here in the US. He was selling his 1997 Honda Odyssey with 57000 miles for $13000. Fortunately, he agreed to my offer of $11000/- and I had my second car. The 1997 Honda Odyssey is a V4 with good miles per gallon ratio ( and it was our first auto transmission vehicle. I still have this vehicle and it has so far been driven to about 122000 mloaded tooiles. I just got new tires on this.
In 2006, we decided to sell the Hyundai Elantra and traded it for a Hyundai Tucson. The reason was to help Nandita who had a fairly long commute and it got difficult and risky for her to drive a low car on the freeway in the rains. The brand new car, cost us about USD $22K out the door, and has been our most expensive purchase outside of the house we bought. It has a 6 CD changer, auto transmission, power windows, power steering and all the works.
So now, Shivangi has a car that is fully loaded too. It comes with 6 CD changer, auto transmission and has power everything. Now when I think of it ( we as parents are trying to exactly what my parents did; give our best to our kids. Help them become much better people and focus on their work and studies.
Here is a comparative chart to indicate how things moved. Note that my vehicle, when I was about 19 years old, cost me about $23/- :)
| VEHICLE | Old/New | Year | Rupees | USD $$$$ |
| Landmark Cycle 20” | Old | 1974 | 75 | 9 |
| BSA SLR | Old | 1977 | 150 | 9 |
| Hero cycle 18" | New | 1983 | 400 | 23 |
| Suvega 50 CC Moped | New | 1976 | 4000 | 235 |
| Luna 50 CC moped | New | 1976 | 3500 | 220 |
| Atlas Bicycle 22” | Old | 1986 | 200 | 22 |
| Hero Majestic 500 CC Moped | New | 1979 | 5500 | 300 |
| Luna 50 CC Moped | New | 1979 | 4500 | 260 |
| Kinetic Honda Scooter | New | 1988 | 14000 | 800 |
| Kinetic Honda Scooter | New | 1993 | 20000 | 700 |
| Fiat Premier | Old | 1993 | 90000 | 2200 |
| Suzuki Maruti | Old | 1997 | 190,000 | 4000 |
| Hyundai Elantra | New | 2001 | 7,00,000 | 13,000 |
| Honda Odyssey LX | Old | 2002 | 6,00,000 | 11,000 |
| Hyundai Tucson | New | 2006 | 12,00,000 | 22,000 |
