The first car I ever drove was an Ambassador Mark IV. This was back in the 80s. I would be the back up driver for my father when he drove to my grandparents house during the summer vacations. I would always look forward to those long drives. Mind you it was not as simple as it is today where you can sit in your car and drive away.
Back in the day we needed to be ready with at least a few spare accessories. My dad would always pack a basic toolset, a can for petrol (gas in NA terms), a can for water, spare nuts and bolts, and a fan belt. These were some of the accessories we would pack for long trips.
I remember once we were travelling between Delhi and Jaipur and one of the front wheels almost came off while turning into the midway cafe. We realized that when the car barely missed the front gate wall while turning into the cafe. But the adventureous spirit was live and kicking so we simply drove the car back on the road and somehow made it to the nearest mechanic who told us we were lucky to reach him.
There are many more memorable moments that I can think of. One of the best happened when Dad was posted in Taj Flight Kitchen, Bombay. I was about two years old and was sitting in the back seat. Dad made a left turn and the back left door opened, as he merged on the road and made a swift right manover, the back right door also opened. Luckily for me, I was sitting in the middle of the seat.
In another incident with that car a front wheel almost came off. The wheel pin lock kept it in place while the people on the road honked and shouted to stop the car. For a while, we weren't sure what was wrong with people.
After a few years we made a trip north. We started from Jaipur, travelled north to Delhi, Haridwar, Dehradun, Masoori, Badrinath and Hemkund sahib. This was probably 1988. Boy, this was a trip to remember. An army truck hit us, we drove in the mountains with no windscreen. With no windscreen, at night fireflies would flash inside the car. Suddenly you would see a light on the shoulder or the seat. We lost one of our shock absorbers to the mountaineous terrain. We ran out of fuel at one point and had to buy it in black. We paid in advance and waited all day for 20 litres of petrol. We left the car without the windscreen at the foothills of Hemkund sahib to trekk for 3 days. Our driver was so scared to drive in the mountains that it was literally dad that drove the entire length while the driver sat with us in the back seat. At one point, the brakes overheated and lost traction. It was scary when suddenly the car kept putting on speed while we travelled downhill. After about a minute's worth of pumping the brake pedal, bang... the brakes suddenly came to life.
As I grew older, I would drive the car more often. I would practice for hours in a playground. Yeah while people practiced sports, I would practice my driving skills.
So those were the wonder years that shaped my driving skills. There are many more stories that I can share but you would have to meet me to share my enthusiasm. For now, I leave you with found memories of my days with the Ambassador.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
My first ever blog
So, this is my maden attempt at blogging! One of the first things I was told about blogging was that it is a good medium to share your thoughts and recieve feedback. So here I am sharing one of my passions - which is automobiles.
Automobilies - why automobiles? Since I was a kid, just like an average boy I loved almost everything about automobiles. The speedometer followed closely by the accelerator were my most admired components. Listening to the music, feeling the breeze in your face and arms, looking at people pass by was just a great feeling. I remember starting to drive quite early in life. Since I liked spending time in the car, one of my life changing experiences also came while I was in the car, driving.
My grandfather, an army man, took great pride in teaching his grandchildren how to drive. Hence, his grandchildren got an early taste for driving.
As I grew old and continued to drive, I came to realize the environmental effects of internal combustion engines. This led me on a reading spree and I would often spend more time reading about different technologies in automobile engineering. I started out with aerodynamics and then moved on to superfluidity and superconductors. As a youngster, I had multiple ideas about re-engineering this space. I would think about electric trains and would imagine a world where all automobiles could run on electricity. I also thought about the solar energy, but the most revolutionary idea I came up with was to use earth's gravitional force.
If anyone of you have seen STAR WARS, there is one eposide where the young jedi knight makes his own racing mobile and enters a contest. If you notice all of those mobiles were at least a few feet above the ground. You can argue that they used rocket propulsion and were more like aircrafts than automobiles.
But the point is, if automobiles could harness earth's gravity, more like antigravity, road surface friction would drastically be reduced, as a matter of fact we could do without roads. So the idea was to make a machine that would be suspended a few inches to a feet above ground to reduce friction and then at the same time use earth's magnetic field to propel the machine. The motivation came from reading superconductivity and the use of natural resources like earth's magnetic field.
Automobilies - why automobiles? Since I was a kid, just like an average boy I loved almost everything about automobiles. The speedometer followed closely by the accelerator were my most admired components. Listening to the music, feeling the breeze in your face and arms, looking at people pass by was just a great feeling. I remember starting to drive quite early in life. Since I liked spending time in the car, one of my life changing experiences also came while I was in the car, driving.
My grandfather, an army man, took great pride in teaching his grandchildren how to drive. Hence, his grandchildren got an early taste for driving.
As I grew old and continued to drive, I came to realize the environmental effects of internal combustion engines. This led me on a reading spree and I would often spend more time reading about different technologies in automobile engineering. I started out with aerodynamics and then moved on to superfluidity and superconductors. As a youngster, I had multiple ideas about re-engineering this space. I would think about electric trains and would imagine a world where all automobiles could run on electricity. I also thought about the solar energy, but the most revolutionary idea I came up with was to use earth's gravitional force.
If anyone of you have seen STAR WARS, there is one eposide where the young jedi knight makes his own racing mobile and enters a contest. If you notice all of those mobiles were at least a few feet above the ground. You can argue that they used rocket propulsion and were more like aircrafts than automobiles.
But the point is, if automobiles could harness earth's gravity, more like antigravity, road surface friction would drastically be reduced, as a matter of fact we could do without roads. So the idea was to make a machine that would be suspended a few inches to a feet above ground to reduce friction and then at the same time use earth's magnetic field to propel the machine. The motivation came from reading superconductivity and the use of natural resources like earth's magnetic field.
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