Twenty-seven is no age to go away, but the original people’s car, the Maruti 800, the car into which middle-class India squeezed in its aspirations has made its exit from 13 cities, just like another relic from the socialist past, the Bajaj Chetak, has.
E.P. Unny, India’s premier political cartoonist, zips down memory’s bylanes on the gaddi the Punjabis call ‘Mrutti’ and the Kashmiris call ‘Maarvati‘ (click on the image for a larger frame).
Cartoon: courtesy E.P. Unny/ The Indian Express
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Also read: Once upon a time, when Ideal Jawa was the Roadking
From Yadavagiri to every part of India i.e. Bharat
Behind two giants, Narendra Modi & Sanjay Gandhi, a small car
churumuri 
end of one era marks the beginning of another. old is replaced by new one. earlier it was japaanii now it is parsis. things have changed but wait one thing has not changed.
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????? The bad condition of roads. :(
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Maruti -800 has played a unique role in the lives of middle class people of our country. It deserves a lot of appreciation for its service in making a common man taste the luxury that was once beyond his dream. It is sad that no attention was paid for research and development to make it road worthy in the new age.
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Enjoyed the cartoon. It was my expereince also when I purchased my new Maruti. I had sold my 17 year old jalopy Fiat 1100 reconditioned with what they used to call half engine replacement when I went abroad on Foreign Assignment. Coming back I booked for Maruti and I got one after some wait. Being a little out of practice with Indian Delhi weaving driving I asked my driver to come with me take the delivery of car and drive me to our house in kasturba Gandhi flats. He was ga ga when he saw my new red maruti, took overcar. We cruised and as we got on to Safdar Jung fly over the car started racing furiously almost without control. I found he had stepped on to 3rd gear more forcefully. He was about to hit a DTC bus. I shouted to remove his leg and apply brake asked him to draw to kerb. Then I took over and drove up to our flat. i did ask him what happened. he said ” pata nahi sir, main ne to mamuli sa he jhatka diya ta jaise hum ambassador me karte hai.
Anyhow mercifully , era of premier and Bharat Blade I hope has come to an end moving in fits and starts in the road of liberalisation
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Sad. The three cylinder wonder was the toughest car from the Maruti stable. My 800 was doing exceptionally well after five years of abuse. You could flog this vehicle like no other and it would continue to function.
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Eh..nostalgia!
I remember the first red Maruti that was brought by a doc to my one-horse town. We were kids in school and as the news spread we were amongst the first to visit the new contraption. What a sight it made standing by the side of doc’s good old Ambassador – Portly matron and a nubile young thing!
Opinion though was divided – I must confess we kids were a li’l underwhelmed by the size of it which seemed to look more like a toy car. The oldies too were quite sceptical and said it won’t take the pressures of the Indian roads and would soon perish. By the time we were done with college, the dainty little thing was truly ubiquitous and was turned into an essential ‘dowry’ product!
BTW the doc drove that car for more than 15+ years and then graduated to a Baleno. I used to occasionally hear from his Rotary friends about the gushing tributes he used to pay to his trusted car if anyone were to mention just M as in Maruti.
It was an aspirational thing and served its customers well as a value-for-money product.
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Maruti800 is the reminder of the license permit raj. It is a relic like the old fiats and ambassadors.
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In my childhood my rich uncle had brought the first model of 800.He had weighed his options between Dolphin the fiber glass car and the 800 and choose 800. We were thrilled by this car. My uncle’s driver was never tired of mentioning that 800 is a delicate toy and would not last long like the ambassador he was so used to driving. But all those predictions have been proved wrong.
I brought my first 800 in the 90s. This is the car with the lowest maintenance cost. I would never forget those wonderful years i drove this car in all the muddy and bad roads of karnataka, goa, kerala, tn and maharashtra.
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