Wanting to go for a Drive, But taken for a Ride

DaimlerChrysler India, on Thursday, handed over the keys to the first Rs 5-crore Maybach, the country's most expensive car to Pan masala tycoon Rasiklal Manikchand Dhariwal. Dhariwal bought the car as a gift to his daughter, Janhavi, on her 21st birthday.
"Aur mere liye?" that was the question asked to Jalal Agha in the Pan Parag advertisement many years ago. And thanks again to Mr.Dhariwal, 5 days after the incident, I am sure many drawing rooms are again echoing the same words or words to that effect.
I have already written a post on birthdays ( Happy Birthday Mr.Singh http://o3.indiatimes.com/funundersun ) so not going to talk about it from birthday angle, though many kids are going to
say "I am not asking for a Rs.5 crore Maybach, just a ...."whatever. But other than the kids, I am sure many are wondering if not the Rs.5 crore car, should one own atleast a Rs.5 lakh car. Especially, if like me, you come from Chennai and have to travel by autorickshaws. Wonder if, instead of bargaining and paying the money to the friendly neighbourhood autowallah, wouldn't it be wiser and easier to get a car loan from the customerfriendly bank.

Well here are 5 points you could consider...(and they are not about depleting ozone layer and rising oil prices)

Reason 1 : I can drive it to my office
Check 1 : Check if the office has a carpark and more importantly if you will be allocated a car park. (Imagine the office space required for 20 employees and the parking space required for parking even 10 cars, duh)

Reason 2 : I can drive my college friends around (from wannabe Janhavis)
Check 2 : And your parents will know your friends smoke. (if you don't have friends who smoke or have an excellent freshner in car..how about you have "n number of friends" and all ns can't fit inside the car and those who don't fit in, will be angry and you will lose "n"-"those who fit in the car-1" friends) (those who fit in the car - 2 if you intend to have a driver). ;)

Reason 3 : Shopping will be a better experience. And there would be more space for shopping bags compared to autos/2wheelers/bus/trains(especially Mumbai trains)
Check 3 : No one is going to give a car owner any bargains (if you buy anything from the street). And you will have to shop not at the places you want, but only in those which have good car parks. And just because the mall has a car park, doesn't mean you will get car parking space during weekends. And if you do get space to park, you will start wondering why its not crowded. If you think you can shop, and someone can drive around and will pick you up after your shopping. Think again. The car could be stuck in a traffic jam, with you carrying 3 big bags. (If you think you can get away with it, by offering to drive around. Think twice, no one would believe you were in the traffic jam and I don't have to elaborate the consquences to you)

Reason 4 : It would be cool to visit friends and relatives in a car
Check 4 : Haven't you seen the signs "Visitors are requested to park the car outside" in almost every building gate. And again, the road is going to be filled with cars on weekends (both parked and moving). And instead of visiting those whom you want to visit, you will start visiting those who have car parking spaces for you.

Reason 5 : .But it looks good with the neighbours and others. So what if other places may not have ample car parks, I have one. Let me buy it, park it and then see if what it says in this blog is realistic.
Check 5 : Sure. A car is a status symbol. But only a clean car. You may cover it, but still the dust does creep in. And did you calculate the buckets of water you need to clean a car. You are not going to win the neighbourhood popularity contest if you spend the scarse water on cleaning a car you don't use.

To conclude, if you have booked a car park at the office, or if your "n number of non smoking , non beer/nail polish spilling friends" , exactly matches "the number which the car fits-1" or if you all your favourite shops,relatives, friends have ample car parks, and you dont mind spending on car wash or mineral water for washing a car, go ahead buy the car.

I just wanted to make sure that, just because you want to go for a drive, the car manufacturers don't take you for a ride.

And you can thank me for thinking about you/enriching your life with this excellent blog by, posting a comment mentioning the same. (Yes now you can post comments, it works!! And for those who prefer to post irrelevant comments, before you decide to vent the frustration of the last few days, on this blog, remember the �remove comments� button;) ). Perhaps if I used it to remove unflattering comments too, some might be tempted to post only praises. Hmmm;)

PS : For those who can't believe I can be kindhearted and want to know if I have any hidden agenda against cars or if I would benefit economically from this post (As it happened when I suggested couple of NGOs in Read This Challenge in http://o3.indiatimes.com/funundersun ), all I want to say is there are 2 kinds of bloggers.
1. Those who are the "Boss" at the office and have ample time and access to internet and
2. Those who are unemployed, and hope that blogging will somehow earn them a Nobel Prize in Literature. (I strictly belong to the 2nd category).

posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2004 2:48 PM on O3