DRIVING PASSION — ROSHAN ABBAS

‘My cars should look good and feel good’

Upasana Pande

Television host Roshan Abbas talks about himself and his cars

Acting, direction, singing, compering, television hosting...you name it and Roshan Abbas has done it all. A born entertainer, he likes all good things in life. Automobiles are no exception. Mr Abbas owns two Ford Ikons, one Opel Astra and a Qualis. Some day, he would like to own a Prado Land Cruiser, though. Mr Abbas’s first car was a blue Maruti 800 which he says he loved till he moved into big things in life. At that time (around 1998) he bought an Opel Astra which, he says, his driver turned into a Volkswagen Golf when his driver rammed it into the Nizamuddin Bridge on a foggy winter morning.

Mr Abbas finds the Qualis very comfortable for long journeys, especially on rough roads. He loves the Ikon but he thinks it’s a bit too bouncy. He finds the Opel Astra to be very sturdy and he also likes the air-conditioning though he finds servicing costs on the Opel quite high.

Whichever the car, Mr Abbas is particular about the music system because he loves music. His choice varies from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to Dire Straits to Pink Floyd. Listening to good quality music in his cars is important to him since he spends up to one-and-a-half hour or maybe more while commuting from his home to his workplaces. In fact, he even wanted to install a DVD player with a LCD screen in his car, but his wife put her foot down firmly and said no.

So, what does he look for while choosing a car? “Looks and comfort of a car are of particular importance to me. I mean the car I am moving around in should look good. As long as I can whiz past a few people and see them disappearing in my rear-view mirror, I am happy.” So who makes the decisions as far as buying cars is concerned? “Oh, I like to choose the kind of car I like to buy though as far as colours are concerned my wife takes the decision. When we bought a Ford Ikon, we wanted to buy a cherry red colour but since it was not available at that point in time we had to settle for a military green. Our house is like a rainbow of colours but we definitely do not want our cars to look like that, though we love colours. My first Opel Astra was a purplish colour. They call it Atlantic blue, one of the early colours they launched.”

Does Mr Abbas remember any funny incidents while driving? “Well, there was this interesting one. I was driving back from a show in Jaipur an the National Highway and, being dead tired, I fell asleep in the rear seat while my chauffeur was driving. Suddenly, I woke up with a start as I realised that the car was veering to the left. To my horror I realised that my chauffeur had dosed off, too. I gently woke him up as I thought that if I woke him up abruptly he would manoeuvre the car instantly, endangering us both! After that, I made the chauffeur sit in the back seat and instead on driving myself.”

Mr Abbas has driven and been driven all over the world. Although the roads there are excellent, there is much more warmth on Indian highways, feels Mr Abbas. He cites a particular incident when his wife and he were returning from Chandigarh, but visibility was down to zero because of dense fog. “At this time fellow travellers came to our rescue and guided us through. They even offered tea and loads of encouragement, a camaraderie and empathy seen only in India and nowhere else in the world.”

Is Mr Abbas very particular about his cars? “My cars have multiple masters—me, my drivers, my wife and even my father-in-law, who may drive occasionally. But I am very particular about the way my cars are maintained. Whenever I go to a department store abroad, I get car polishes, scents even pneumatic pumps for my cars. The bottomline is my cars should look good and feel good. That’s all I care about. I think the bonding cars have with their owners matters a lot.”