Means and mode of conveyance

I learnt cycling at the age of 11 by hiring a bi-cycle from the market. It was indeed a pleasure to drive for an hour or two and cover a distance at a speed. My uncle Dhanasingh Raja, my father's younger brother got me one second-hand cycle to commute between Dalavoipuram village and the Higher Secondary School in Sankaran Kovil while studying Tenth and Eleventh grades. It was certainly a luxury compared to walking a distance of 3 Kms one-way to the town.

College education was totally residential staying in the hostels. So no means of conveyance until I became the Sub Divisional Officer at Jashpur Nagar in Raigarh district of Madhya Pradesh State and enjoyed an old jeep provided by the Jashpur  Janpad Panchayat for two years. As Additional Collector of RAIPUR and Collector of Betul I had a new and well-maintained jeep and of course as Collector Sagar I had for the first time a lucky ambassador car to drive around in the district. 

Till my retirement in 2007 I had the fortune of using the official vehicles only & mostly the Royal ambassador car. At the time of marriage  I bought a scooter after taking a loan.  Four years later my father-in-law bought a second-hand ambassador car for my family use between 1976 and 1985.

After retirement I bought a new car for the first time - a Chevrolet U-va model for a price of ₹3.75 lakh in 2007 with the money returned by Ram Mohan, my son.

Although the car was submerged in flood waters of chennai during November-December, 2015 it was repaired at a cost of Rs 45,000/- and being used now at the age of 70!

My spouse - the grand lady-  still prefers to travel by train in the 3-tier sleeper coach (Non-AC) while travelling alone. With a lot of persuasion she manages to travel with me in 2-tier AC coach at times. Between the home town and Chennai we currently travel by omni-bus from safety and convenience points of view.

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