The car drew up outside the posh hotel - not a spot of rust on its vintage white and cream chassis, this Hindustan Ambassador gleamed from frequent polishing. Anthony, the driver, was to take me to the airport an hour away. He got out and opened the boot of the car for the luggage and then gave the back seat a final dust down and pushed the front seat forward to give me more leg room. "The body is original" he told me "but I had a new engine put in in 2007 and it's now done 400 000 kms. They don't make them like this any more" ! (The Hindustan Ambassador is based on the British Morris Oxford III Series of the 1950s - dubbed the 'King of Indian Roads').
As we got under way, he told me a remarkable story. Some years previously, the hotel had sent him to the airport to pick up a visitor from Switzerland - along the way they had got chatting and as she was staying at the hotel for a couple of weeks, she asked to meet his family, his wife and daughters and so began an unlikely friendship. She was alone and lonely and liked his family.
One day Anthony told her of his plans to build a new house - "then build it" she said "and add on a room for me, so that whenever I come to India, I can stay with your family - I'll give you a lump sum in Swiss Franks, as my long term investment in the project !" And so he did just that. He built a new home in the style of the hotel with the same colour scheme - white, cream and brown woodwork - the colonial style. He had some of the pictures in the hotel copied to hang on the walls and also the colonial furniture faithfully copied by a friend who was a carpenter - he carefully recreated a smaller version of the hotel. And into 'her' room, he put all the best pieces of furniture and added air conditioning !
"It's taken two years to build and in a week it'll be inaugurated and 'she' will be the guest of honour, he said proudly. "She's flying out from Switzerland and will spend 3 days at the hotel and then come to my house.
"I'm not rich, but I'm rich in life....because I have a wife and three daughters, a home, a town and a job at the best hotel in town, I love them all"......and then he added:
"But there's one picture in the new house which isn't a copy from the hotel - I commissioned a large oil painting of my Ambassador Motor Car !!" With that he gave a joyful chuckle !
As we got under way, he told me a remarkable story. Some years previously, the hotel had sent him to the airport to pick up a visitor from Switzerland - along the way they had got chatting and as she was staying at the hotel for a couple of weeks, she asked to meet his family, his wife and daughters and so began an unlikely friendship. She was alone and lonely and liked his family.
One day Anthony told her of his plans to build a new house - "then build it" she said "and add on a room for me, so that whenever I come to India, I can stay with your family - I'll give you a lump sum in Swiss Franks, as my long term investment in the project !" And so he did just that. He built a new home in the style of the hotel with the same colour scheme - white, cream and brown woodwork - the colonial style. He had some of the pictures in the hotel copied to hang on the walls and also the colonial furniture faithfully copied by a friend who was a carpenter - he carefully recreated a smaller version of the hotel. And into 'her' room, he put all the best pieces of furniture and added air conditioning !
"It's taken two years to build and in a week it'll be inaugurated and 'she' will be the guest of honour, he said proudly. "She's flying out from Switzerland and will spend 3 days at the hotel and then come to my house.
"I'm not rich, but I'm rich in life....because I have a wife and three daughters, a home, a town and a job at the best hotel in town, I love them all"......and then he added:
"But there's one picture in the new house which isn't a copy from the hotel - I commissioned a large oil painting of my Ambassador Motor Car !!" With that he gave a joyful chuckle !
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