Mr. Mahendra Maharishi, Gurgaon (EX. SENIOR BROADCASTING OFFICER, DD NATIONAL)
Those of us who saw British era city transport vehicles , must be familiar with tongas, buggy or erstwhile horse driven carts. Gandhi-Jinnah going together in a buggy is one such photo which is registered in almost every mind who saw their photographs in basic books to important documented photo graphs in galleries detailing the historic journey of our freedom struggle in the forties of last century. Also some of the Royalties of 18th. to 20th. Century were pictured using horse carts in London streets. When British granted the Rai Bahadur status to Indians in the elite service of the Raj, they too owned horse pulled buggy. They employed horse cart drivers called ‘Saies’ , a local word to identify their job and status too. They were higher in stature than a tongawala , because they were directly serving the’Bade saheb’. I saw this as a child. My father’s elder cousin was a judge and was bestowed Rai Bahadur status by the Raj. I don’t know what he did to be honoured with this pre name title. . He lived in a very big house with 3 buggy garages and an Astabal for the horses. There were servant quarters too. I don’t remember how many men were in service for the Judge saheb. But they were several in numbers. He sometimes used to hold his court in the central daalan of the house and the accused for smaller crimes were punished then and there ,in his presence , by the police men on duty, thrashing them with their leather belts before they were let go. Being freed, these petty criminals used to bend almost half, before the Judge saheb , for being let off and not sent for torture in jail. Before my memories drift me hay where,
PĺI return myself to buggy reference to the era that began to shift to the Petrol carts , named motor car. They were symbol of the then modern life style of very privileged elite of the times. Most Cars were of such design that we may compare them with today’s four wheel tempo with a cloth hood above. They were fitted with the same horn which adored the buggy or Tumtum , replacing the metal bell with air balloon blown horn. By the way to tell you why it was named tumtum by the locals , because it had a bell similar to the table bell we saw in government offices for calling the peon. It was fitted near under the feet of buggy driver as an alerting sound for clearing the way for it. Office bells of erstwhile times are now replaced with electric call bells that too remote operated. Back from this deviating intrusions , I come to buggy V/S car experience. So the buggy in its elimination period replaced the tumtum bell to adopt rubber balloon horn which locals called ‘ pon-pon-bhonpu’( पौं-पौं भोंपू ). Bhonpu was not only a warning on roads to the pedestrian but also to others alarming /alerting that a car is passing through and they must therefore , clear the route for vehicle of the man in back , seated on the “LEFT” side. It hardly mattered who else was occupying the seat by the drivers side ,in the left , or was sitting on right on the seat in the back. Usually the driver side front left seat was either for the orderly in attendance of his saheb or the P.A. attached to the saheb , holding files in his lap and discussing some urgent cases while his saheb was instructing him for their urgency and quick disposal.
In buggy no such close door things were possible. But , Saheb here too occupied the left side corner. I never bothered about the reason why it was so till I bought my Padmini Fiat in 1984. I understood the protocol behind the use of left and right seat. I calculated , why saheb was not sitting in back of the employed driver. Perhaps it was the fear that the foul odour , emanating from his sweat socked shirt , directly foul the breath of saheb too. The cars had no air conditioning then. Secondly , sitting in his back will be obstructing the front view while on road. These and such like other reasons behind , are not really very logical and convincing. If we go back to tumtum era ,where the coachwan occupied a seat mounted above the level of the back seat gentry , there also the Sahebs occupied the left corner seat. Why ? I answered the self inquisitiveness by my self. We regulate our traffic keeping on the left of the road. The buggy in the porch of the saheb’s bungalow will, therefore, be facing the left side to be on road , once out of the sprawling mansion. Naturally then sahib stepping out of the house will sit on the left of the vehicle. If some one accompanied him , he will naturally be on the right side which remained unoccupied in the coach. So was with the motor car, that made prestigious tumtum old fashioned , slow moving cart pulled by horses farting foul. Motors ,instead were also farting loud and leaving smoke from behind , but they save the occupants from it all. . It was a natural instinct to sit in the left seat for convenience and avoiding a full round from the front or back of the vehicle to come to sit on the right. But how it turned out to be a matter of a status attached to it , is to me , is yet a question unanswered. British left in 1947 leaving their imprints for the natives to follow blindly without going into logic behind. Hindustani sahebs linked normal practice of convenience with a matter of status making back left seat a symbol of prestige and an unwritten self made social custom. Infringement of the same is now linked to insult to the saheb or a challenge to his ‘territorial authoritative privacy’. So also , with the lady of the house. For her it became an un-compromising right to be on the left of her on the wheel spouse , if they are in their self driven car. No matter what so ever may be the limitations or constraints of others who may need to be on the front single seat beside the ‘chauffeur spouse ‘ it is lady’s unquestioned privilege to be in front chair.
Times do change, sometimes in favour and sometimes against. Things are now further confirming the rights of mistresses to occupy the front single seat , because they are the navigator of their husbands at home and in the cars too , setting and guiding about the GPS route which is connected to net alerting before hand the traffic blocks ahead and possible de-tour as alternates. No matter it is right hand drive like British or left hand drive following American manner ,navigation is prime concern to beat the time,energy and fuel consumption.
Philosophically , they say that nothing is permanent. Days ahead are of computer controlled vehicles where both the front seats and the back ones will be occupied by the travellers without a man on the wheel. And the ‘cart’ will be able to move in any direction without a u-turn to follow the route backwards or forwards. Isn’t it going to be ‘directionless’ future ! As it is , life is shifting fast from porch facility bungalow and villas to the modern multi story mansions and flats which open directly on fast moving road. Where ‘concept Vastu’ has lost its scientific sanctity as the direction for moon or a Mangal Yan or for that matter any destination in the galaxy is not necessarily set by the earthly clock , that is known as THE SUN. Horses have gone out , petrol driven cars have shifted to hybrid technology, soon making way for complete solar or in not far off future , to the jets propelled by hydrogen , obtained from water. Change has always historically began with hard phase. But we have yet to see when it comes to the psyche of ‘ front seat- back seat , left side or right side’ and the rightful occupants as the aspiring Pradhan servants of democracy.
