May 11, 1998

Dreams in Jodhpur are made of stuff like a ride on a Chinese Cadillac.

By Rohit Parihar

It is a legend on wheels. A 1938 V-8 Cadillac has been driving people crazy since the Maharaja of Jodhpur acquired it the same year, and, as princes of that era were wont to, had the car's body extended to accommodate two seats for his servants. The majesty of a royal vehicle, 18 ft long and 6 ft wide, has been an irresistible temptation to many, and the leaf green car continues to draw admirers.

The car has ferried its share of history makers. It served Winston Churchill during his visit to India in the 1950s, and Jawaharlal Nehru loved riding in it. Soon after the vehicle became the property of the Rajasthan government following the merger of princely states into India, Nehru had the car brought to Delhi for the use of USSR prime minister Nikita Khruschev. Supervising the preparations for the Soviet leader's visit, Nehru felt no cars available in Delhi matched the grandeur of the open Cadillac of Jodhpur.

The car floundered but once. That was in the '70s, when President V.V. Giri, on a visit to Jaipur, was being driven from the airport to the Raj Bhavan. On the way, the Cadillac stalled, whined and refused to move another inch. Driver Madan Singh nonchalantly borrowed a pitcher of water from a curious passer-by to cool the engine, while a shocked security staff shifted the President to another car. An embarrassed administration, in the best tradition of Indian bureaucracy, ordered an inquiry into the incident; there were suggestions that engineers from General Motors, US, should be called in to find out the cause of failure. Singh, who had been specially summoned from Delhi for the job of driving the President, was grilled by the investigating agencies. Today, the retired man says with a chuckle, "With the little bit of technical knowledge that I possessed, I convinced them that it was a genuine mechanical failure."

However, it did not take long for the Cadillac, now owned by the Rajasthan State Motor Garage, to regain its honour. In 1974, when prime minister Indira Gandhi planned a holiday with her family at the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary, Madan Singh and the Cadillac were once again teamed up to serve the visitors. Singh, this time, refused to drive the car until a thorough scrutiny of its innards was undertaken. Once assured of its loyalty, he drove it to Bharatpur, where Indira and her brood had a trouble-free time with it.

Since then, the car has not failed in its missions. It still runs smoothly at 80 miles an hour. It has hub caps that still carry the monogram of Jodhpur state, and its various dials still tick on bravely. Fuel efficiency at four litres to a mile may daunt many, but those who have ridden in it swear that the run is better than what today's luxurious cars have to offer.

The state has more than once planned to sell it off. With security becoming an obsession after Indira Gandhi's assassination in 1984, the open Cadillac was, sadly, no longer deemed suitable for carrying dignitaries. The state government fixed Rs 10,000 as its selling price; a vintage car collector from Mumbai offered Rs 10 lakh for it. "But we resisted the sale," says Anand Singh Chauhan, an engineer who looks after its maintenance, "it is our pride." It was suggested instead that it be rented out and the money utilised on its upkeep.

Today, every marriage season, families rush to book the car for the wedding processions. They pay Rs 1,000, and an additional Rs 25 a mile. But that is a small price to pay for the pleasure of being ushered into married life in the legendary Cadillac. About 400 grooms would testify to that. As would Shri Ram Meena, controller of the garage: "People are crazy about this car and we have to adhere to the first come, first served principle." Quaintly enough, there are times when rides cost nothing: as a farewell gesture, the chief secretary of Rajasthan and an employee of the State Motor Garage are driven home in the Cadillac on the day they retire. And when the car finally halts, the symbolism is complete: one of life's journeys has come to an end.

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