My Experience with Ambassador Car (Part 2 Final)

04.09.2015

We all know that life is a cycle of both happiness and sadness.  Right attitude is not to feel over joyed when happy moments are prevailing and to maintain our selves well during difficult times.  However it is easier to philosophies such theories than to face them practically.

After the talks with Saran uncle we all were feeling happy that after few months the problems will get over.

We had taken a wiser decision of  not plying the car as taxi anymore while Dad was at Vishakapatnam itself.

But then this wheel becoming free gave a further reason to worry.

Somehow we consoled ourselves that inspite of the front wheel becoming free the car had not toppled over. After reaching Jeypore the car was safely parked in Chaijis house in her garage.

Saran uncle’s arrival was a much awaited event by all of us.

For the next 4 to 5 months we all just waited eagerly for the information of his arrival. One day my parents got the call from him that he will be arriving at Jeypore along with his parents, wife and both of his sons and requested Dad to receive them, at Jeypore Railway Station and also told him to keep the car in readiness so that he could take it along with him.  He had also told that he would be coming along with a Demand Draft of Rs.1.5 lakh.  He had taken the bank details of my Dad for the same. My Dad went to the station on the appointed day in the car. My Mom had stayed back at home in order to cook for all the guests who were arriving.

My Mom recalls the days often and says “I was busy cooking food and I had kept the house in all readiness for the guests and was getting impatient as they were not arriving much beyond the scheduled time of the trains arrival. My ears were waiting to hear car’s horn sound.  After much waiting I saw three rickshaws stopping at our door step.  The maid came in to call me.  When I went out I saw Mrs. Saran alighting from the one of the rickshaws along with her younger son.  The elder son got down from the second one along with his grand father and from the third one Mr. Saran’s mother got down.  After all of them got down I asked them, “What happened ? Didn’t Sardarji (my father) meet you at the station ?” Mrs. Saran replied, “Please let us get inside the house.  Please bring water for us, then I’ll let you know what happened.”

My mother made them all seated comfortably and then served them with water followed by Rooafja. Then again she repeated her question, “What happened ? Didn’t Sardarji reach the station to receive you all ? Where is Mr. Saran ?”

My mother says that Mrs. Saran took a deep long breath and said, “Sardarji did reach the station in time to receive us. The train had reached well in time. We all were glad to meet after a long time.  We all got ourselves fit in the car somehow and started from Umri towards Jeypore a journey of about 4-5 kms.  We were extremely happy to see the car.  Just while we were crossing the bus stand one of the front side wheels rolled ahead of the car (this time the other side one). Somehow Sardarji managed to stop the car safely.  We all got down from the car and hired rickshaws and have come home.  My husband and Sardarji will come after reaching the car in the garage for repair.”

After this rolling of the wheel (for the second time) no one had spoken or even mentioned anything about selling or purchasing of the car.

Saran uncle and his family stayed in Jeypore for 4 days.  Ironically during their stay Dad had hired a taxi and had taken Saran uncle’s family to nearby sight seeing spots like Gupteshwar, Upper Kolab, Chitrakut Waterfalls and Tirathgarh Waterfalls.

After the car was thoroughly repaired we desperately started looking out for someone to purchase it. Meanwhile we were paying the interest amount. With no income from the car our extra earning plans had totally gone off track.  The principal amount was raising its demonic head every now and then and was giving us sleepless nights.

Most of my colleagues started advising me to stop paying the interest to Mr. PXX and also used to suggest that I should not bother about paying the principal amount as the money that Mr. PXX was using for lending such loans was not his hard earned one.  But I refused to listen to all such advise and suggestion.  For me what mattered was the fact that I had asked for the amount myself. So I had to pay back.  Few used to try to convince me by saying that Mr. PXX had tried to trap me into borrowing from him.  Still I refused to listen to any such thing.

We sincerely looked forward to repaying the principal amount as early as possible.

My parents had procured a small piece of land (40 x 60 feet) in Simliguda around 1986. They sold that land for Rs. 30,000/- and sent us Rs. 20,000/-.  Exactly after a years time on 17^th Oct. 1996 I had paid an amount of Rs. 20,000/- vide cheque no.0xx101 to Mr. PXX towards part payment of the principal amount.

In took the whole family to suffer the ordeal of bearing the pain of paying the interest on regular basis and also to bear the pressure of how to repay the remaining principal amount of Rs. 55,000/-.

Finally the ordeal came to an end when my parents were able to dispose the car to a willing buyer (a business man) in Jeypore itself. We sold the car for Rs. 75,000/- Dad sent Rs. 65000/- to me immediately.

On 25^th Oct 1997 we paid the remaining principal amount of Rs. 55000/- to Mr. PXX vide cheque no. 0XX552. By this time we had paid an amount of Rs. 39375/- as interest towards having borrowed the loan of Rs. 75000/-  for just two years.

The best part of the whole story of our second hand Ambassador Car is that the business man, who had purchased the car had done so as he had to go to and fro to Raipur, as distance of 384 kms almost every week and the car has been doing excellent. He had met my Dad during his last visit to Jeypore in 2014 and had stopped the car and had come out of it and had shaken hands with him and had said, “Purchasing this car has been one of the best deals that I have ever made. Till date  the car has not given us any trouble.”