Congratulations and Celebrations!

I admit I have very little experience with buying cars.  The last time I needed to, I walked into some dealerships, and my Dad handled the rest (yup Daddy's princess, can’t deny it)

Buying a car in India is a little different.  We needed a car, honestly just something that would get us from A to B in one piece (major plus point). Since my husband totally negates my negative IQ about cars, I thought I’d take the back seat on this one ;).  The first three dealerships we went to, would take over 4 months to get us a car…4 months? Not just their dealership but all the dealerships by that company would have a 4 month wait.  Surely something is going wrong with their efficiency model there.  

So in our 4^th dealership, we were a bit more experienced and began with asking about their wait time

“10 days Sir, promise, 10 days latest”

Ok, we can deal with that.   Mistake #1: believing them.  With true Indian style we were offered coffee or tea, which in comparison to the last dealerships where they never delivered on their promised coffee, we were already impressed. My husband scrutinized at the tyres, the steering wheel and whatever else you look at in a car while I sat there sipping my sugar with a dash of coffee.

So we thought we were after a basic car.  However a basic car here means a car without AC, no air bags and no ABS brakes….so it’s pretty much an Auto (tuk tuk) with doors.  So we decide to go for something a little more ‘high end’.  The salesman’s false promise of “10 days latest” turned into 3 weeks or more.  So after some days of yelling and threatening, we basically get given someone else's car.  Now usually I wouldn't be OK with this, but they gave our car away to someone else, who most probably threatened and screamed, so why go against the system.  I am positive I could find a more quiet efficient solution to this.

So whenever you buy a car or purchase a high monetary value item in India you have to go get it blessed.  Back in Australia we used to go to the temple on the closest weekend after buying a car, the priest would come outside bless us and the car and that was that.  That’s not how it’s done in South India.  So you walk into a dealership and there is usually some sort of open fire taking place in front of heaps of cars. I’m sure it’s totally safe.  With an in-house priest, That’s right all the major dealerships have their own priest, so you can’t drive away without having this ritual done. I guess that’s one thing that works in their efficiency model.

We get told to sit down inside and someone will come serve us shortly, on the couch is another young family with two small kids and someone with a lungi (similar to a long sarong) and a polo reading the paper which is covering most of his body. 

We get greeted by the guy we met the first time we came in, he takes us outside shows off the car, which has two red ribbons on the front bonnet, cute touch.  The guy who was reading the paper emerges, this time without the polo and I realise he is the priest.  We stand behind as he starts his chants, the front bonnet gets opened and he placed the tilak and haldi (turmeric) on three parts of the engine.  He proceeds to say a few mantras, puts his polo back on goes inside and reads the paper again. (Apologies for the poor quality of images)

Then some guy who works there insists he takes a photo of us and the car (um ok?) so we give a cheesy weird-what-is-happening-smile, and wonder how we can ask for our keys without offending everyone.

At this time my phone suddenly has reception (Vodafone post to follow) and I get a phone call, as I am chatting away I see about 10 workers coming towards our table.  BANG!

I jump up and see confetti flying everywhere. Right beside my right ear (same ear I held the phone against) is  a man gleefully smiling as he had very proudly popped a confetti gun.  The workers that were approaching us were now coming with a velvet tray in their hands and on the loudspeaker Cliff Richards song “Congratulations” is blasting.  The velvet tray and its followers come to a standstill, and someone slowly hands us a rose.  It was handed to my husband so delicately I wasn't sure if he was being serenaded.  Then came a bag of chocolates (pretty convinced he was being serenaded now), then a wooden photo frame with the photo of us and the car (well that solved that mystery), a Ganesh statue and finally our keys (hallelujah).  

The song is still blaring and I don’t think they realise this song is about a wedding, but who am I to stop this celebration.  Every staff member (about 25 people) in the store comes to shake our hands and congratulate us. We go ahead and shake everyone's hand, giving them a a thankful smile but wondering if I just dreamt what I had just witnessed.

There is no denying that Indians sure know how to celebrate, whether it’s weddings or festivals, and who knew but buying a car!  I would love to see the celebrations if we were buying a Merc.  Australia, I expect the whole works, fireworks included next time I buy a car.