Mercedeses like moongphalis

Illustration/Uday Mohite

I'm basically a train person. I've taken the train to work - and college before that - for 30 years straight. Still, cars have woven in and out of my life. Weirdly, I was an editor on The Indian Auto Journal, India's first newsstand automobile magazine, from 1986-1988. Don't ask what I was doing there - I know zilch about cars - but we did popular test drives of the new cars and bikes flooding the market. Bonus: I went twice on the Himalayan Car Rally, a thrilling, week-long, cross-Himalayan adventure, once as navigator, and then as cheer-upper.

Years later, I was assiduously wooed by an Italian with a gorgeous Alfa Romeo convertible. I remember many glorious rides along Marine Drive, with the car's hood thrown back, the wind in my hair. Then, as filmmaker, I was line producer on Star Biz by Dorothee Wenner and Merle Kroeger, one of five international feature-length documentaries I've line-produced in India. It was an independent German documentary on the Mercedes Benz in India and Bollywood, and included a spectacular scene from Qurbani, in which Feroz Khan smashes Amrish Puri's Mercedes Benz, to punish him for his arrogance after the latter kicks a beggar who cleaned his car. So, the Mercedes Benz in Bollywood is not just a symbol with which a rich hero might woo a heroine, but a symbol of the villain. Real revelation.

Last week, I read the delightful new book The Automobile: An Indian Love Affair by Gautam Sen, published by Penguin/Viking. It traces the fascinating history of the car in India for over a century, what they meant to the maharajahs and professionals who owned some of the finest cars made worldwide; from Indian cars, vintage cars and cars in Bollywood, to bikes and modern day ‘bikernis'. Alongside, you get insights into the social, economic and cultural fabric of the nation. Yet, despite the exhaustive research, the book is written with a feather-light touch, with anecdotes and tongue-in-cheek humour. And, it has delectable car photographs.

An automotive consultant, journalist and author based in Paris, Sen is founder editor of several magazines, including Indian Auto Journal, Auto India, TopGear India and the Indian edition of Auto Motor & Sport. His books include The Maharajas & Their Magnificent Motor Cars, The Story of the Star in India, Rolls-Royce 17EX: A Fabulous Destiny, and Marcello Gandini: Maestro of Design. Full disclosure: Sen was also my boss at Indian Auto in the 1980s.

Take the grandiose Sir Benode Chandra Mitter clan of Calcutta, for whom Mercedes Benzes were like moongphalis. Their car collection included a Duesenberg Model J, Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A, Rolls Royce Phantom I and its legendary one-off 17EX, Mercedes Benz SS, and more. Jayanta Mitter tells Sen about their holidays to their home in Hazaribagh, when the women preferred travelling in the Duesenberg, as it was the most comfortable. "The cooks and the helps were packed off in the two Mercedes Benzes as no one wanted to go in them, as they had the hardest ride," he explains. Poor chaps.

At the Coronation Durbar of King George V and Queen Mary in Delhi in 1911, most of the 560-odd princes of India attending, wanted to acquire a car as a prestige symbol. Yet, many interior princely states had hardly any motorable roads, and to be able to use these cars, "the first set of macadam roads were constructed in the interiors of the country," Sen writes. India became one of the most important markets for the Rolls Royce and other prestige brands. We also learn that the Delahaye of Jayachamraja Wodeyar Bahadur, Maharaja of Mysore, was bought by Elton John. How the Ottoman royalty of Turkey were married into the family of the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1931: "Princess Hadice Hayriye Ayshe Durruhsehvar and Princess Niloufer Khanum Sultana were married to Azam Jah and Moazzam Jah respectively," sons of the Nizam. Durruhsehvar was daughter of Abdul Mejid II, last Ottoman Caliph, and Niloufer was great granddaughter of Sultan Murad V, the Ottoman Emperor in 1876. Azam Jah had a Rolls Royce Phantom III, with a Lalique glass mascot, revolver holsters, and detachable spittoon. Eww, we are like that only.

Meenakshi Shedde is India and South Asia Delegate to the Berlin International Film Festival, National Award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist. Reach her at meenakshi.shedde@mid-day.com