Black beauty

When I started blogging some 8 years back, all my blogs were with black backgrounds. Even though I liked black color, there was bit more that influenced me in this decision. There is a website blackle.com which is technically a google search engine with all BLACK theme. The idea behind this website was black screen needs less electricity compared to color screen. Since as a naïve student I wanted to as much as possible to save planet earth, I decided to use a ALL black theme. I also had the following note in my blog explaining my decision.

"U might b wondering y everything so BLACK over here. It might not b as beautiful as one would like but I`m doing my bit to save planet earth!! (Technically black screen consumes far less energy than a bright colorful screen.).U can do your bit too. Try using energy-saving www.blackle.com (search engine powered by google)."

However, with the years, I realized that not all "black" themes saved energy. Also I realized that not many people visit my blogs to make any savings significant. And in order to make my more blogs pleasing and relevant, I decided to move away from black themed blogs. Coming to main reason for writing this post; I wanted to archive the original note before deleting this. I couldn't think for better way than this ;).

The unusual color code

Going home from college is always fun, no matter how soon we are going to return. The trip to Trichy from our college is always filled with enjoyment. Usually group of friends travel together and they always have interesting things to look at and entertain themselves( i mean the movies that they put in the bus:). As not much people come from my town and because of my unconventional travel time most of the time i am forced to travel around alone. And mostly i do not find those things(like movies) interesting, hence i usually prefer gazing outside the window. And the road expansion going on along the Trichy-Tanjore road has given me a good alternative to look at.

Large machines of any kind have always fascinated me by their sheer size. And this road expansion activity have given me a great opportunity to look at new machines like Excavator, Grader, Backhoe, Roller,Compactor,Tractor-Trailer,Cranes to name a few. By viewing such machines for past 3 years, I have noticed an unusual color code in Tractor unit color. This is not tractor that is used for farming, it is the unit that pulls the lengthy trailers. It is also called as Semi-Trailer Truck in U.S or Artic (short for Articulated truck) in Europe. Here is the color code:
The Volvo units are either in RED color or in a BROWN-WHITE combo color.
The MAN units have YELLOW color.
If u see any units with colors like SILVER, ORANGE or PINK then it is made by Asia Motor Works(AMW).
The new Tata units have RED color.
The old Tata units do not have any "characteristic color" but WHITE and BROWN-WHITE combo are predominant.
The Leyland units(mostly old) do not have any "characteristic color" but the BROWN-WHITE combo are predominant.
And i haven`t seen any Actros Trucks( made by Mercedes-Benz) or new models of Leyland trucks in these roads.

The great old man of India

Well the previous blog was about the Enfield bullet, i couldn`t stop myself from writing about another "long time hero" of India: The Hindustan Motors Ambassador. It shares a lot of similarities with the bullet. Both had very little changes in the past 50 years but are still selling in decent numbers. Both the models have no competitors i.e they always remain in special segment. Both had a British origin but have now become an Indian product. And so on...

The Amby is based on the Morris Oxford III model and has been in production since 1958. It is made by the Hindustan Motors, a flagship company of C K Birla group. The earlier models were named as Mark I to IV, then the Nova followed by 1800ISZ. The last model was powered by an ISUZU engine making it the fastest car of that time!(It is nice to here that our Amby was once the fastest car of India but remember only the FIATs and Maruti 800 were sold at that time). Recently major changes in exterior design were made and the model was christened as Ambassador Avigo. Now a new model with modified engine has been introduced which has lower emission and better fuel economy(The company claims the new model gives a millage of 16kmpl compared to 11kmpl for previous models!). Recently there were attempts to bring back the Amby "home" i.e to England. It is imported by a Welsh based Merlin Garages from the year 2002.

Currently the Ambassadors are mainly used as Taxis or to serve the Indian politicians. But still there are takers for Amby which is considered to be the car best suited for Indian condition. The Amby`s back seat is still considered to be one of the most comfortable one. Though the market is flooded with cars, none can match the space and comfort of the Amby.

I have been around with Amby since the time i can remember. First my uncle has a Amby (i can still remember the Reg no:TNL 7273; and it is the only Reg no i remember other than our XL Super!). It was one of the first car i have traveled. Later they sold it car and now they have got another Amby, a 1974 Mark IV model which is still going great. One of my other uncles too had an Amby. Amby has always been around me. Be it the trip to Anamalai hills(the highest point in India if the Himalayas were not there!!), or to roam around the pink city of Jaipur, or the trip to Nasik from Bombay; it has always been in an Amby. Amby, i love u!