No Parking

Rules are made to be broken especially if it's a tired old dame like this Ambassador. Before India opened up its economy to foreign investors, there were only really two types of cars available - the Fiat 500 made under licence from its parent company in Italy and the home grown Ambassador British collaboration such as this one. The black and yellow version was the taxi and white Ambassadors with a red siren on top were government vehicles taking MPs and VIPs, both local and international around. They are not a common sight these days in a sea of imported cars but are still sometimes used as taxis and government cars.

Our extended family had a second hand black Ambassador sedan in the 70s which was a source of our pride among friends and neighbours. Few people had a private car back in those days. The number plate I remember was DLV 902. 8 to 10 of us would pile in on some rare Sundays, not caring that we were tightly squashed together with contorted limbs to go Bangla Sahib Gurdwara followed by a treat at Gol Market.