SOON after college, Namita Chhiba didn’t know what lay ahead. She chose the first available option, helping her father in his vintage car garage near Ashram. This was some fifteen years ago. Without an automobile engineering degree, Namita set out in a man’s world.
It must have been strange for the male mechanics. ‘‘Initially no worker in the garage would listen to me and would rush to my dad with complaints. Probably, my presence hurt their male ego,’’ says Namita.
Today, the same workers besiege Namita with their personal problems. With time and experience, Namita has learnt the art of making people work, not just the creaking machines that go back to early last century. She is also one of India’s few women vintage car drivers and has driven a 1983 Rolls Royce from Delhi to Shimla and back.
And work has been so much of a worship to her that she has a smile on her lips when she remembers, ‘‘I was married and on the verge of becoming a mother. I worked till the last moment and went straight to the labour room from the garage.’’
A visit to the garage will make you travel in reverse gear. One of the cars restored by Namita is a 1927 Mercedes 680 k super-charged engine. It is one of the few in its category remaining on the planet. And these elderly jalopies parked in the garage for restoration keep falling apart. Namita has acquired the art of giving them back their original shape and gleam. She relies on pictures of the old, glamorous cars to do her repair work, often from scratch. She recreates the same sparkling curves and fenders of the younger cars when they had first rolled out from the factories.
Namita and her dad, Tutu Dhawan, sit together and often mix and match automobile parts which are no longer available. Sometimes they fabricate these spares. Some parts are imported from London’s Builly Market.
A rare racing model Jaguar ‘‘e’’type 3.8 lt. engine with three carburetors and a 265 bhp engine is one of the rusty pieces lying around. Namita looks at them like a caring mother and says that some of these have been lying around for a couple of years and may need a couple more to be restored.
A grey-coloured 1954 Austin Shearline model has a Rolls Royce engine and gearbox. It is ready to move out. It has a mini bar in front of the rear seat. Namita chuckles because each of the cars restored has a story to tell.
One of the most expensive cars in the lot is a 1983 Blue Rolls Royce. It has a 6.7 lt engine. She explains ‘‘the cost of restoration can vary from Rs 5 lakh to 10 lakh depending on how close the restoration is to its original.’’
For this mother of aging machines, each car that comes for treatment is a sick child. To her, the first run of the repaired car is a great moment.
The happiness of being one with her craft shows. With her immense love for what she does, she struts about confidently in a man’s world.
Passion and devotion never had any gender.