Cars cars everywhere. .not a space to park !

It was an American or a British car Prefect Ford. And before

that it was Austin and God knows what else.

The fact was that we were used to cars. 

 We had several drivers - among them Murari was the one whom

I still remember. He used to take us to school & back. He

was a  die hard fan of Bade Gulam Ali Khan and loved to play the

tabla too. 

On occasions our father used to come too. On those occasions we

were sure to end up at The Great Eastern Hotel for some titbits. 

  During those days there were few cars on road in Calcutta and

 we were never late to school or wherever we had to go.

It was through these drivers that I finally learnt driving at the

tender age of 15/16.

After the demise of my father (we were merely teenagers then)

friends started pouring in- they were all sorts of young men

with various motives. Some among them weren't that bad while

few others had their own agendas.

I still remember the day when our car was first stopped by few

men. They suddenly appeared from nowhere and started waving

at our driver (probably it was Kesto ) requesting him to stop. As

far as I could recollect it was near Md. Ali park or Harrison Road.

They came towards the car and requested with folded hands to

go back. It was perhaps the first time that we heard the word

Hartal. They politely said that we should not proceed any further

as it was Hartal. Our driver (who was probably alerted by father)

requested them to allow the children ( we brothers & sister) to

attend school as the exams were going on.    They allowed us to

attend classes but , once again, requested Kesto to immediately

go back . Later these requests turned into orders and , as we

 could all see, into the present form of protest.

Sorry to have deviated from the main subject -I would like to

come back once again to my concerned topic.

   Space problem is keeping most car owners or would be owners

to think twice before buying it. Most present owners are forced to

hire cabs as that would help them to relax from tensions related

to driving as well as finding a garage for his car !