It is rare to see an Ambassador car on road in the recent years, since its manufacturing stopped about 25 years ago.
In the nineteen sixties onwards when cars were on the road, the two brands that dominated the roads were premier Padmini, a version of the Fiat and the Ambassador cars. Since Maruti started manufacturing more fuel efficient cars in collaboration with Suzuki, for the last thirty five or so years, Maruti captured the large market share, pushing out Padmini and Ambassador cars. They had to stop manufacturing as newer models of car came into the Indian market after the liberalisation of the economy in the nineteen nineties.
The first three cars we owned were Padmini between 1983 and 1998, after which we shifted to Maruti brand.
This is just a sign of the more changes to come in all walks of life in India. The new would displace the old!
The life of any car can only be fifteen years in India according to the Motor Vehicle regulations.
The Ambassador and Padmini cars were manufactured for use during one's full life time. They were sturdy and had robust parts. Now the manufacturing quality corresponds to current standards, although long life for a car is not in the manufacturer's intent.
We are racing to catch up with tomorrow's technology in many frontiers!
The Artificial Intelligence would soon change many practices we were used to!
We live in a season of transition!
What seems to be threatened are values, ethics in behaviour and conduct and social equity!
At least in India, the bottom population in the pyramid, who were expected to move up to, at least to the lower middle class status has not happened in the last 25 years, since the liberalisation of economy. The middle class and the upper middle class mostly have migrated to a higher economic status.
It was while spotting the Ambassador car, I recalled how changes in society have favoured many for wealth creation, leaving behind about thirty percent of population still struggling to exist or subsist!
The above two photographs gave me a message to ponder upon.
The street above had more cars and two wheelers than pedestrians. The well to do have found their way to live!
At the side of the road a little distance away, there were two stray dogs! They live with uncertainty of food and shelter.
That is what is the state of the people in the bottom of the pyramid in India !
It is wake up call to live mindfully of others!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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