In this era of multiple cars for a
family, ours is no exception.
If I take into account, my family
(self, wife and daughter), and my parents, we own four cars between
five people. Now, before you go and accuse me of not using public
transport, I shall admit to it. I gave up public transport(as far as
possible), which basically includes buses within the city, and of
course, the suburban Mumbai rail, a number of years ago, as soon as I
could afford it. There are a number of absolutely logical reasons for
that, which can be the subject of another post.
Coming back to the subject of family
ownership of more than one automobile. If I add my in-laws to it,
then another two cars get added. Of which one is the Ford Ikon.
The story with the Ikon in the family
is a bit weird. My sister in law insisted that we buy the Ikon there,
though I was rooting for an Esteem, given the usual logical reasons
for owning a Maruti – serviceability at every corner, reliability,
fuel economy, and cheaper spares. To make a long story short, the
Ikon was bought, and came home a couple of days before Christmas in
2004.
At the time, I used to live in Noida,
and my wife was expecting our daughter, and was living at my in-laws
place in Gurgaon for the ease and convenience of having someone
around for help, given a workaholic corporate husband who “never
comes home”(sound familiar, anyone?). So, on one of the first
trips out in the new car, without number plates, the three ladies of
the house got pulled over by a Gurgaon traffic cop for jumping a red
light(you should see my sis-in-law at the wheel – if you aren't
religious, that will make you!). With no way out of the situation,
both my mom and sis-in laws pointed to my nine month pregnant wife,
who was being “duly ferried to the hospital” since it was an
“emergency” and hence the red light jump, and the humane side of
the constable came to the fore, who duly escorted the ladies to the
next available hospital, leading the way on his bike. Of course,
since my daughter came 15 days later, these ladies took the next U
turn after the cop went his merry way and went straight to the malls,
their original destination. I take this incident as a sign of good
luck, cause I never had as much luck with traffic cops, and over the
years have decided to avoid them through a more guaranteed route of
safer driving.
15 days later, my daughter arrived, and
was suffering for post-natal jaundice, a common occurrence amongst
newborn kids. Now, with the Delhi winter at its coldest, we were all
at our wits end to figure out how do we follow the paediatrician's
orders of exposing the little one to sunlight, which was the best,
natural cure. Until of course, I saw the Ikon in the car park.
Spanking new, and with non-tinted windows, the car was duly parked in
a sunny spot, and my daughter placed inside on the rear seat, nestled
comfortably in the sunshine, insulated from the 10 kmph chilling
winds blowing around Delhi on a cold winter day in 2005.
Who would
have thought an Ikon can be used to cure post-natal jaundice?
Not me,
until I had my daughter, that is.
Well, even now, when I travel to Delhi
twice a year, the car is practically at my disposal for the duration of my trip. All my trips out of the house, be it to
the mall, friends, erstwhile offices and colleagues, movies, to and
from the airport, are in the car.
And what a car too. Easily fits in
my in-laws, daughter who is now 3, wife, luggage for a twenty – odd
day trip, and yet comfortably get us around. And of course, when I'm
the only one in the car, it doubles up as a mobile jukebox between
meetings, events, and during waiting times in the markets of Delhi. The Ikon's suspension is infinitely superior to that of the Esteem for example(haven't got my hands on the Dzire yet, but I'm betting that the genetic trait of a bumpy ride in the rear of a Maruti will continue).
Driving wise it is quite fantastic – I personally love the way it
takes off the moment you so much as tap the accelerator; the feeling
of pulling away from the Delhi traffic is somewhat comparable to
'leave your worries behind', except for the fact that as in life,
they usually catch up with you at the next traffic light.
But the real clincher for me is the
fuel economy. When in the hands of our driver, the car has not ever
given more than 12 kmpl. However, when in my hands for that month, it
never gives below 15 kmpl. Maybe its the kind of music we play in the
car that makes it'eat more' when the other guy is driving, or it
could be the driving style. Though I am fairly non-aggressive, I do
like speed. And given my luck with traffic cops, I guess that's the
secret that gives me 3 kmpl more. For once, I'm not complaining!
