The Story of my Ford

December 2010.

Ask any Production/Mechanical engineer to name some great contributors to the Manufacturing industry in the 20th century. Henry Ford would certainly top the list, not only for building the Ford legacy but also for introducing the Assembly Line technique for Mass Production of his cars. 

1994: 
My association with Ford (read it as the brand "Ford") evolved in 1994, when I noticed a key-chain of my school buddy Ranjay. This key-chain was oval shaped housing the signature Ford logo and I was simply awed by the Ford logo. I asked Ranjay what it meant, and he said it was one of the largest car manufacturers in the world and that his dad worked in Ford Muscat. 

It was about the same time that Ford had setup a huge manufacturing base in Chengalpattu about 40 kms south of Chennai. It became an important landmark for me every time I travel to my dad's village towards Gingee. From the road I could see hundreds of cars glistening brightly in the Ford campus. Ford was then manufacturing its Sedan - Ford Escort. It was a neat car for the time and every time a Ford escort passes by, my head would turn and I would stand in awe. Well this was India a few years post liberalization and terms like Hyundai, Ford, Coke and Pepsi were just registering in our minds. In my case, Ford registered deep inside too.

8 years later (in 2002):
I was a graduate trainee at a small sized software company and was in conversation with my company Vice President - Ms.Vandana. She asked me what my financial target was for the future. I thought for a few seconds and quoted whatever first struck me. It was "to own a Ford when I turn 30" She said fair enough, because it implicitly meant a lot of other things including Financial Stability, a genuine need for car etc, etc. I still had 8 years to go.

4 years later, (2006):
I found myself in Bangalore. One of my colleagues Ganesh was shifting his base to the Silicon Valley (Santa Clara to be precise) and wanted to give away his Ford Ikon at a relatively cheaper price. He was keen on giving it to me, because in one of our earlier conversation I did mention that I wanted my first car to be a Ford. I was tempted to buy this car, but as a young chap, with no permanent base in Bangalore and travelling between Chennai and Bangalore every weekend in train/bus, a car with a Karnataka registration made very little sense, so skipped the thought of it. 

2007:
A year later, I saw myself in Chennai in a posh room being Interviewed by the Testing Vertical head. I had cleared couple of earlier rounds. This round of interview was just to know something about my life outside of work. It was more like a rapid fire round, the interviewer reading out a bunch of questions from his list and I trying to answer each one within seconds (although it wasn't demanded of me). One of his questions read, "Name one personality whom you admire". My reply went this way, "Henry Ford, for his contribution to revolutionalizing the Manufacturing Industry". I still don't know why this popped out of my mind then.

1 year later (2008):
This time I genuinely needed a car for office commute. My work hours were extended and incessant Chennai rains weren't helping either. But this time logic overtook all emotions and I ended up buying a second hand Alto (manufactured by Maruti Suzuki). I didn't even consider other options and life went on. One of these days, I caught up with Ganesh and he asked me if I indeed bought a car. I told him about my second hand Alto, and he jokingly asked me about my Ford dream. I was instant in my reply quoting "My first NEW Car Will be a Ford", inserting the NEW into my earlier quote. We ended the chat with a smile.

2 years later, (December 2010): 
It was now time to upgrade my car. I had parking constraints, so restricted my search to hatchback variants. Thankfully (or not thankfully) this time around there were a gamut of options but luckily I had an extended budget too. As of this day, I had the following options to evaluate from -  Maruti Suzuki Swift/Ritz, Fiat Punto, Volkswagen Polo, Chevy Spark/Beat/UVA, Hyundai Santro/i10/i20, Ford Figo and even Nissan Micra (which was yet to be launched). Being the more practical guy this time, I was keen on going for a Maruti-Suzuki Ritz, particularly for its looks and good reviews too. My sister Deepika though loathed the very looks of it. Hesitantly I entered the Ford showroom to learn more about their new hatchback variant - Ford Figo. As the salesman demonstrated every feature of this car, I was all the more sure that this would be my next car. After some payment formalities and a 5 day waiting period, I drove my Figo or rather my Ford home.

I have turned 30 now and as told to Vandana, bought a new car. Just as I told Ganesh, my first brand new car is indeed a Ford. And the best part is, I get to see the Ford logo everyday which once awed me as a kid. What was a casual classroom discussion 16 years ago, happens to be what I'm driving today. 

Call it destiny or as Paulo Coelho quoted in Fifth Mountain - "when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it" ; I managed to get my Ford at the right time and in the process connecting all dots !

A Stranded Biker, Karma and An Irony Called Life

Wednesday, 23 March 2011

A Stranded Biker:

This was like any other weekday evening where I had to ride the 12 km back home from office. Having started around 7 pm, I had to wade through heavy evening traffic and drive through a 5 km stretch of National Highway before I reach the area where I live. This was around one of the days my pulsar (Motorbike) needed a service, so I was running it on a limited ration of petrol. I knew the current stock would last about 15 kms so rode around like everything was cool. It was exactly when I diverted from the main road to the highway that my bike gave me a jerk indicating I might be running low on fuel; well I was still sure it would last the distance till the gas station. 

It was exactly 1 km later that my bike gave up and wouldn't accept to continue. The nearest exit from the highway was 1.6 km ahead and I had no idea how far the gas station was from there. Started doing the only thing I could under these circumstances, push my bike for the 1.6 km journey towards the highway exit. Now it was befitting to call me "A Stranded Biker".

Karma:

Well, I'm a person who would offer anyone a bit of help if it was within my bounds. I would'nt hesitate even if it was a stranger and even if I have to go out of my way to do it. Like today on 2 occasions, I offered a couple of strangers a lift and drop to their destination. It does feel good to help a random stranger, try it sometimes. I do have a problem in seeking help though, but none of that mattered now while I was on the highway pushing my bike towards the exit and the next gas station. A thought did cross my mind if someone would stop by to offer me help of any kind, but who would be stupid enough to stop cruising at 80km/hr on this highway just to help a stranger. So this thought didn't stick around for long. It was after sometime that I finally exited the National Highway and was now asking directions to the nearest gas station. One gentleman suggested it was around a km further down this road. I stopped by to inform my sister about the delay in reaching home and was about to resume pushing the bike when another young man came by; he must have been in his mid-20s casually dressed. This is how our conversation went:

Mr. A: Any Problem sir ??

Me: Yep, I ran out of gas.

Mr. A: Do you need my help, I could lend you a few ml of petrol

Me: Why not, but I ain't carrying any container to transfer the petrol.

Mr. A: Don't worry about it, I have a bottle. 

He leaked a few ml petrol from his bike into a small bottle, and offered to drop it into my pulsar's tank. Looked like he carried the bottle just for this purpose, needless to say I was surprised. He assured me that this amount of petrol would last another couple of kms just about enough to reach the gas station. I didn't know how to thank this gentleman, so decided to pay for the petrol. He politely declined and requested me not to price-tag his favour. I felt a little embarassed and just verbally thanked him and shook hands. He introduced himself as Anand and told me to return his favour by helping strangers in future and parted by quoting; "It's a good feeling to help strangers and you'll like it, I make it a point to help 1 stranger per day". Today I was his stranger :-).

I have helped countless strangers in the past, even if they were all trivial things and today my Karma paid off. A stranger volunteers to help me and bring me out of my misery; this is an event that reaffirmed my belief in kindness unlimited and I will continue to do it even more so. In a way adding on to my "Karma".

An Irony Called Life:

So my bike took off, thanks to the little ounce of petrol Mr. Anand offered, and I was on my way to the nearest gas station. After a few minutes ride, I did spot a gas station at a distance and had a smile on my face that I'd finally be making it. Here I was riding my bike into the gas station and asked the gas station guy to fill in some petrol. He smiled, politely declined and said "This gas station serves only diesel !". Now I had a wry smile on my face that quoted, this is "An Irony Called Life".