HERITAGE
Rover Roars
Darjeeling has the only functioning taxi fleet of Land Rovers in Asia
BARUN ROY
27 Jun 2008
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Rusty History: Land Rovers used as taxis in Darjeeling could fetch Rs 16 lakh in international
markets (Pics: Barun Roy) |
Puran Thami still remembers the day his grandfather Sukhbir Thami bought a Land Rover. The year was 1954, and Puran, a tender eight-year-old. Sukhbir, a World War II veteran who had seen action in Cyprus, invested his pension money on a Land Rover Series I owned by the son of Iswardass Bhimani, the then Rai Bahadur of Darjeeling. Sukhbir, after much persuasion, managed to get a bargain for Rs 3,000, but even that was too much for him. He had to put in Rs 1,000 from his pension funds, and gave up the deed to a piece of land he owned in the heart of the town.
Today, Puran points to a glittering mall on the same land and smiles — the price of the land today is more than Rs 4 crore, according to market estimates. If only his grandfather had been a little wiser.
Sukhbir, however, never regretted his decision. The Rover was the love of his life and he drove it for three years before he died, bequeathing it to his son, Balbir, whose grandest moment was driving supplies and climbers to Kathmandu and Namchey Bazaar for Brigadier Gyan Singh, leader of India’s first expedition to Mount Everest, in 1960. “The car is not at its peak and the seats rattle,” says Puran. “The engine fumes and regulators give way at times, but the old dame is still the only one that can take you up to Sandakphu.” That claim could be contested, but Sandakphu, at 3636 metres — the highest peak on the Singalila Range, between India and Nepal that merges into the Kanchenjunga Range — is a mean ride up. Sandakphu is regarded as one of the most beautiful trekking destinations in Eastern Himalayas.
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Rumbling Forth: (clockwise from top left)
A 1978 picture showing a fleet of Land
Rovers Series I & II; a Land Rover Series
IIa Series 88; all in Darjeeling |
These Land Rovers were brought into India in the 1950s by British tea planters who chose to stay behind after the country’s inde-pendence. At that time, the Land Rovers ruled the roads from Assam to Darjeeling Dooars Terai. By the 1960s, the British tea planters eventually left India for good, and the good old machines found their way into the hands of travel operators and individuals who pressed them into taxi services.
Today, Darjeeling has five Land Rover Series I (including 80 inch Series I), six Series II (including IIa Series 88), and 12 Land Rover 109s. “A recent estimate puts the number of Land Rover Series I in the entire world at 86,” says an excited Louis Bedford of the London Land Rover Enthusiasts Club. “To learn that five Land Rover Series I are operating as taxis in Darjeeling is absolutely unbelievable. The owners may not even know that their Land Rovers are today worth their weight in gold, literally.”
Nowadays, the Land Rovers ply primarily between Darjeeling and Ghoom. Ghoom is a small town situated 12 km away. It lies at the base of the Sinchel Range, and is a valley where roads to Siliguri, Mirik, Kalimpong and Gangtok intersect. It is also famous for one of the oldest monasteries in the Darjeeling Hills.
A Land Rover 109 is hired as a ‘mini school bus’ by Mount Hermon School, while a fleet of at least six Land Rovers ferries goods and trekkers to Sandakphu from Darjeeling. “The Land Rovers cannot be seen anywhere else in India or, for that matter, Asia as part of a working taxi fleet,” says Sudharshan Agarwal, a Rover enthusiast based in Darjeeling. “The Land Rovers of Darjeeling are unique in that sense.”
An enduring legacy of British Indian history, the Land Rovers have been kept in running condition for more than six decades by the sheer craftsmanship, ingenuity and mechanical knowledge of the local drivers and fitters. Of course, the cars are sturdy too.
“Land Rovers do not require much maintenance,” says Rajesh Agarwal, owner of a Land Rover Series IIa Series 88. “When the engine does break down, we can put it back into service after a little tinkering. The Land Rover has provided livelihood to our family for almost 45 years now. It is part of our family, and we do whatever we can to keep it in good condition.”
According to David McCormick of the Northern Ireland Land Rover Club, and Steven Bowman of Legion Land Rover Columbia, these Land Rovers could easily fetch in the excess of $40,000 (Rs 16 lakh) in today’s international markets.
When asked if he would sell his Rover for a neat sum, Puran Thami is steadfast. “A Land Rover is priceless. It is like our body part. Selling it would be like chopping off one’s arm. It simply can’t be done.”
(Businessworld Issue 1-7 July 2008)
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