Only in India does a Peoples' Car turn into a status symbol. Where else in the world would a midget of a car like a Maruti be commonly chauffeur-driven?
In the beginning was the Ambassador. And for several generations of Indians it seemed as though this venerable model would be the end too. If there are finally intimations of mortality for these "period-cars-in production", Indians must raise a hallelujah to the Gandhi brothers — Rajiv and Sanjay. Glory be to the bungling of these exemplars of baba log. For it gave deliverance from the tyranny of crony socialism, the flagship of which was the 1952 Morris Cowley aka the Ambassador.ran
It was Sanjay who floated the idea of a people's car. Something in the nature of Hitler's Volkswagen. Of course, Sanjay never had Hitler's luck —either with fascism or with the people's car. His role in bringing forth a new car for the volks of India was limited to naming it Maruti, the Hindu god of wind (incidentally, Sanjay named his son, his other production, after the god of waters—Varun). While he was alive, Maruti never produced anything worth mentioning except road-rollers and armour-plated Ambassador cars. The latter moved so ponderously that some VIP customers thought they were better off ordering the former. The god of wind would definitely not have been pleased.
Things changed in 1980 after the Gandhi brothers' other great passion, flying, abruptly ended Sanjay's life as he crash-landed into a dhobi ghat in the heart of Delhi. Elder brother Rajiv, then a pilot with Indian Airlines, was quickly grounded by mummy and prime minister, Indira Gandhi. Sycophants of the grieving Mrs. Gandhi dotted the landscape with hospitals and other public institutions to the memory of the fallen "Son-of-India". They also revived his pet project Maruti by bringing in the Japanese Suzuki. Along with Honda, another motorcycle manufacturer, Suzuki had carved a niche for itself in small, fuel-efficient cars, which were giving the Detroit gas guzzlers a run for their money in the world market. It was the time of the Saudi Arabian negotiator Sheikh Yamani, the evil genius behind OPEC, and the unseemly fuss about fossil fuels.