I drive an Alto. And for all reasons, obvious & implied, I love my car. Its my first car, I had bought it on my own and recently paid off its loan. Its safe, convenient & dependable. And because its a Maruti, there is never any trouble finding service for it.
So why is this post called what its called? Well, Santro & I go way back. Longer than I first recalled when I thought about writing this post. About 10 years ago, when my father was planning to buy our first family car, I remember I begged & pleaded with him to buy a Santro. My knowledge of cars was strictly limited to their looks at the time. And I loved the way it looked.
But the fuel efficiency, sturdiness, and reliability of the Tatas prevailed over this unknown foreign brand "Hyundai".. and we got a rather ugly looking Indica instead. Well in all fairness, it has been a reliable car that has served us very well for almost 10 years now. But still, there was something about Santro that Indica didn't quite have. It couldn't zip zap zoom...
A good few years later, more constraints led to my buying an Alto. A car I fell in love with after buying it. Nevertheless my elusive affair with the Santro remained. My best friend owned a Santro. And since he was the one who taught me how to drive, I learned my driving mostly on a Santro. I loved the small driving conveniences it offered. The only thing he refused to teach me was to zip zap zoom...
Life went on... I was driven to my surprise birthday party in a Santro; was driven around the streets of Meerut trying to find the venue of a friend's wedding in a Santro, lost our way & took 100s of U-turns on the way to another party again in a Santro..the list goes on...
My driving skills improved overtime, and as I graduated from one level of driving to the next, I kept sighing wistfully at the Santros zip-zap-zooming past me on the roads. By now, confident of my driving skills, another friend also often let me drive his Santro, and I loved every bit of it. Its pickup, quick steering response, high ground clearance...yes it didn't make me feel as safe & grounded for some reason, as my Alto did... but as long as I got to drive it, I was willing to live with my fears :)
And then things started changing...I started getting annoyed at people with drivers rage..rash drivers who would overtake from the wrong side, who were nearly always speeding,
"Bloody idiots!!" I would mutter, and keep driving.
Until I started noticing something very strange...nearly all of those rash car drivers, were driving a Santro.
And yes, they were "zip zap zooming..."
Till date, the maximum no. of rash car drivers I have come across on Delhi streets are Santro drivers. And though that doesn't do anything to take away my fascination for that car, I guess it does say something about how easily people find ways to misuse power of any kind; in this case, Santro's quick steering response :P
Everything said n done, I still think Santro is an absolute pleasure to drive car,; my friends still drive it and my brother just bought his second Santro with my full support (err..I mean almost full after all my desperate attempts to get him to upgrade failed miserably)
Sure, Santro has its drawbacks, apparently its light weight body makes it unsteady at high speeds: well up until 120 Km/hr its fine and I dont know how much higher it can go anyhow..and how often you would need to / be able to go higher than that anyways!
& though I still haven't seen a color that perfectly compliments its design..all the colors it comes in are either too bland & boring; or just don't go with its design; I would still buy it any day over the other cars in its segment
Till date I have been driven around in a Santro far more than all other car journeys combined; given that almost everyone around me seems to belong to the Santro fanatic community; [ I would start a Santro community on Facebook if there weren't so many inane ones already!] except may be my own driving around in my alto;
And every journey with Santro is a memorable pleasure; and that is of course owing more to the people I am with; but at least a third of the best moments, including some of the very best, I have had in the past 5 years or so have happened inside a Santro..."Santro & I resonate at a certain level" a psychic might say ;) :P
So thats the unfinished story of Santro & I...the first car I loved in my waking conscience; the car that gave me my first driving lessons; the car that has given me unforgettable memories of wonderful time spent with friends & family....the car that I have never owned.
So why is this post called what its called? Well, Santro & I go way back. Longer than I first recalled when I thought about writing this post. About 10 years ago, when my father was planning to buy our first family car, I remember I begged & pleaded with him to buy a Santro. My knowledge of cars was strictly limited to their looks at the time. And I loved the way it looked.
But the fuel efficiency, sturdiness, and reliability of the Tatas prevailed over this unknown foreign brand "Hyundai".. and we got a rather ugly looking Indica instead. Well in all fairness, it has been a reliable car that has served us very well for almost 10 years now. But still, there was something about Santro that Indica didn't quite have. It couldn't zip zap zoom...
A good few years later, more constraints led to my buying an Alto. A car I fell in love with after buying it. Nevertheless my elusive affair with the Santro remained. My best friend owned a Santro. And since he was the one who taught me how to drive, I learned my driving mostly on a Santro. I loved the small driving conveniences it offered. The only thing he refused to teach me was to zip zap zoom...
Life went on... I was driven to my surprise birthday party in a Santro; was driven around the streets of Meerut trying to find the venue of a friend's wedding in a Santro, lost our way & took 100s of U-turns on the way to another party again in a Santro..the list goes on...
My driving skills improved overtime, and as I graduated from one level of driving to the next, I kept sighing wistfully at the Santros zip-zap-zooming past me on the roads. By now, confident of my driving skills, another friend also often let me drive his Santro, and I loved every bit of it. Its pickup, quick steering response, high ground clearance...yes it didn't make me feel as safe & grounded for some reason, as my Alto did... but as long as I got to drive it, I was willing to live with my fears :)
And then things started changing...I started getting annoyed at people with drivers rage..rash drivers who would overtake from the wrong side, who were nearly always speeding,
"Bloody idiots!!" I would mutter, and keep driving.
Until I started noticing something very strange...nearly all of those rash car drivers, were driving a Santro.
And yes, they were "zip zap zooming..."
Till date, the maximum no. of rash car drivers I have come across on Delhi streets are Santro drivers. And though that doesn't do anything to take away my fascination for that car, I guess it does say something about how easily people find ways to misuse power of any kind; in this case, Santro's quick steering response :P
Everything said n done, I still think Santro is an absolute pleasure to drive car,; my friends still drive it and my brother just bought his second Santro with my full support (err..I mean almost full after all my desperate attempts to get him to upgrade failed miserably)
Sure, Santro has its drawbacks, apparently its light weight body makes it unsteady at high speeds: well up until 120 Km/hr its fine and I dont know how much higher it can go anyhow..and how often you would need to / be able to go higher than that anyways!
& though I still haven't seen a color that perfectly compliments its design..all the colors it comes in are either too bland & boring; or just don't go with its design; I would still buy it any day over the other cars in its segment
Till date I have been driven around in a Santro far more than all other car journeys combined; given that almost everyone around me seems to belong to the Santro fanatic community; [ I would start a Santro community on Facebook if there weren't so many inane ones already!] except may be my own driving around in my alto;
And every journey with Santro is a memorable pleasure; and that is of course owing more to the people I am with; but at least a third of the best moments, including some of the very best, I have had in the past 5 years or so have happened inside a Santro..."Santro & I resonate at a certain level" a psychic might say ;) :P
So thats the unfinished story of Santro & I...the first car I loved in my waking conscience; the car that gave me my first driving lessons; the car that has given me unforgettable memories of wonderful time spent with friends & family....the car that I have never owned.
and that's why my dream cars have been santro and a ford mustang :)
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