69-year-old reader shares tale of Barabanki’s first car owned by civilian

LUCKNOW: Elated over TOI story ‘Riding on wheels of time: From a luxury to symbol of freedom’ --part of special 75th Independence series, our reader from Barabanki district Arvind Gutgutia (69) could not resist himself from sharing the tale about his father’s Vauxhall—the first car in the district-owned by a civilian in the district.
Marwari businessman whose grandfather Murlidhar Gutgutia bought property (a flour mill) in Barabanki district in 1942 from a British national and settled told TOI, “On June 5, 1946, my father Laxmi Narayan Gutgutia bought the pre-used Vauxhall with registration number UP M 124 from United Province Motor company based at 4, Shahnajaf road Lucknow.Later, Narain Ford opened their dealership at the same address. Though the car was pre-used, it was in perfect condition and was bought at the down payment of Rs 150 and later on Rs 4,850 was paid in instalment.”

“Though I don’t recall any memory of me travelling in the car, my father used to say, that car was the centre of attraction in the district. It was a status symbol, which indirectly conveyed how well-to-do or influential background our family had. After our flour mill, business was shut down in 1953 due to the unavailability of spare parts, the car was disposed of in Dhanbad along with a truck that was used at our flour mill and our family too shifted to Calcutta. However, I returned to Barabanki in 1981 and started business again,” said Gutgutia.