[vivriti]

A big Hi to all fellow team-bhpians !. I'm happy to be here.

About myself :

Make my living as a Software Consultant.
Recently celebrated my 46th B'day.
Car geek or petrolhead from as far as I can remember. My family still tells me about when as a small child, I had asked my Dad's driver why the steering wheel was in the side and not in the centre.

Have driven a variety of cars from Amby to Ford Aerostar, M3, Hyundai Tiburon.
Learnt to drive in a Fiat 1100. First car I drove in US was a Subaru Legacy.
Most of my driving was in the US.
Have personally owned two Honda Accords and a Maruti Zen.
Would say 70% of my driving has been on the Accords.
Relocated back to Chennai a few months ago after living in California for 5 years.
Looking forward to my next car purchase after taking your advice.

Regards,

Mahesh

[rock18]

Welcome aboard sir. Happy motoring.

[SirAlec]

Welcome Sir, Enjoy your stay.

Ford Aerostar is a van right.? You might have had horde of choice among wonderful vehicles living in US.
What I really miss here in India is the Hot Rod scene that they have in US.

[prithvi_seln]

Welcome Aboard Sir, Team BHPians are all here to share their knowledge and give a original picture about automobiles... happy motoring

[aargee]

Welcome aboard Sir, looking forward to learn from you a lot & expecting your contribution to the community as well. Enjoy your stay here.

After spending so many years abroad, do you have a chauffeur or do a self drive in Chennai?

[ch.nathan]

Hi Mahesh, Welcome aboard!!

Good to know that you came back to India after 5 yrs in US with those living conditions.
Very few people actually do that in reality - though all of them always wanna come back.


BTW, did you get the answer for this?

Originally Posted by vivriti

when as a small child, I had asked my Dad's driver why the steering wheel was in the side and not in the centre.

[vivriti]

Originally Posted by SirAlec

Welcome Sir, Enjoy your stay.

Ford Aerostar is a van right.? You might have had horde of choice among wonderful vehicles living in US.
What I really miss here in India is the Hot Rod scene that they have in US.

Thanks for the welcome everyone.

Yes SirAlec, It's a van. Did feel bit awkward driving it initially but got easy later.

The choice of vehicles there is what is missing in India. The hot-rod scene is indeed everywhere there, even in smaller towns.

[vivriti]

Originally Posted by aargee

Welcome aboard Sir, looking forward to learn from you a lot & expecting your contribution to the community as well. Enjoy your stay here.

After spending so many years abroad, do you have a chauffeur or do a self drive in Chennai?

Intend to self-drive once I get a car.

Originally Posted by ch.nathan

Hi Mahesh, Welcome aboard!!

Good to know that you came back to India after 5 yrs in US with those living conditions.
Very few people actually do that in reality - though all of them always wanna come back.

BTW, did you get the answer for this?

Have previous experience doing it !. Came back in the 90's after living in the US.

Don't remember what the answer was then. Found it years later.

[AltisEgo]

Originally Posted by vivriti

I had asked my Dad's driver why the steering wheel was in the side and not in the centre.

My 2 cents on the reasons for this-

1. You dont want the driver sitting in between 2 people
2. Easier to shout abuses at people who overtake you from the right or left (depends on which side of the road you drive on)
3. Engaging the handbrake would be difficult. You would actually be sitting on it
4. You would see your own face in the rear view mirror, instead of the traffic behind the car

@mahesh - this is not aimed at you personally. would love to hear the response you got from the driver.

on another note, I miss the kind of drivers we had back then. they were always awe inspiring and a calm relaxed lot. all the drivers were a part of our family. though my dad's organization changed over 10 drivers over a 20 year period, i still remember them individually. you never can find vintage drivers like in those days.

[ch.nathan]

Originally Posted by AltisEgo

3. Engaging the handbrake would be difficult. You would actually be sitting on it

You would have to be extra careful to pull the correct lever !!!

[vivriti]

Originally Posted by AltisEgo

@mahesh - this is not aimed at you personally. would love to hear the response you got from the driver.

on another note, I miss the kind of drivers we had back then. they were always awe inspiring and a calm relaxed lot. all the drivers were a part of our family. though my dad's organization changed over 10 drivers over a 20 year period, i still remember them individually. you never can find vintage drivers like in those days.

AltisEgo, as far as I can remember, the driver Mani explained about the ease of looking at oncoming traffic and overtaking when he sits on the side.

You are also right about the drivers. That car and driver was provided by my Dad's office. We then built a house, Dad changed jobs and that put off plans for buying one but instead did result in a long line of cars/drivers from the office pool as well as an agency run by a family friend. Drivers those days were indeed a different lot and more friendly and part of family. Nowadays we hear lot of horror stories.

[MX6]

I can relate to the driver part vivriti. My father was provided with a car in his office in 1985. I was 9 years old. The driver was a part of our family too. My brother learnt to drive first. I had to wait till I was 16. 4 years later, my father bought the car himself from his office. So we bought our car second hand from the office, but we were the only people to have used it.
After it was bought, my father allowed my brother to drive. Till then it was only driven by the office driver.
Then when I got my learner's license, I drove.
We had the car for over 20 years. My father sold it when I was abroad. Because he couldn't maintain it.
He still doesn't know how to drive. No matter how much my brother and I tried to teach him, he never wanted to learn or drive.
My brother learnt from the driver we had. I learnt from my brother. Yes. I do wonder sometimes. Where and how that driver would be now.

[joshguy]

I had asked my Dad's driver why the steering wheel was in the side and not in the centre.

That was a good question

Welcome to Team bhp

[AltisEgo]

Originally Posted by MX6

4 years later, my father bought the car himself from his office.

my guess is that this would have been an amby. i still remember the days when I and my friends used to look at cars on the road and guess the Model. Amby's used to have a 'Mark' model numbering - Mark IV, Mark V, etc. It was a fun game.

Life was much simpler. You could either choose from an Amby or a Fiat. And most of us chose the Amby as the Fiat was a lady's car.

[Zombie69]

Welcome back to reality Mahesh! From my experience of living there for quite sometime, it's a little hard but you'll get used to it and one fine day you will also start swearing at people who cut you off and who come dangerously close to your car! T-BHP is one place where you can be yourself, just like in the U.S.
Welcome aboard!

Cheers!
-Z