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Prabhupada didn't like the Mercedes-Benz auto sedan, which was driven to India from Germany. The suspension was to bouncy on Indian roads, which were wavy at times from the heat, which created waves in the asphalt by the overloaded lorries. Sometimes Srila Prabhupada's head would hit the interior roof. He said, "Send it back." The 'car visa' was valid in India for six months only. And to keep it longer, one has to pay 600% tax. Then Srila Prabhupada assigned me this task of securing three Indian manufactured auto sedans. There were only two types of cars manufactured in India in those days. One in eastern India, with the factory was owned by the Birla Family called Hindustan Motor Company or something like that. They made an old British car that was a model from the 1950s. If you have an Ambassador Car now and ship it to England, you'll get thousands and thousands of dollars, it's a collector's item now. If you ship it to into England, they want them, they'll pay anything because it's a collector's item, it's an antique. Now they don't make them anymore. So Prabhupada, he wanted three cars for each of his temples. For Bombay, so He would have his own private vehicle, for Vrindavana, Mayapur and Juhu. One disciple donated the money. And he gave me the money for these three cars. At that time, I think it was Rs. 28,000/- for the model, Ambassador Car. First I went to the dealer. There was one dealer in Calcutta and I said I need three cars. He called the factory. Then he wrote on a piece of paper the number like 7,500 or something. I said, "Oh, it only cost seven thousand five hundred?" He said, "No, you have to wait, you're in line for seven thousand five hundred people." I go, "What! You mean I can't just buy a car that's ready?" He said, "No, no, no. We are ordered by the government to make a certain amount of cars every year, so we can't make any more than that. The government says you make this amount of cars. So you have to wait for seven thousand people in front of you." I said, "No, no, no. How long will it take?" He said, "Well, it could take five years." I said, "No, my Guru Maharaja wants now." He said, "I can't help you." But G. P. Birla, owner of the Ambassator Car Factory near Calcutta and a Lifemember of ISKCON, and he also donated Rs. 25,000/- to Mayapur. So I went to G. P. Birla, I said, "Sir, Guruji, Your Guru," because he's a life member. He's your guru. Prabhupada said our members are just as good as disciples because they're donating money to ISKCON. I said, " I want Four Cars. I got the cash." He said, "Okay." And I put the cash on the table. I said, "Here it is." And he gave me the Four cars. Actually, I ordered four, one for Calcutta, but the condition the new cars from the factory, they weren't drivable. They were bouncy from the springs in the upholestry, and the windows were shaking while driving. The doors wouldn't close right. I mean everything was mis-manufactured. Even some of the tires were loose, they didn't make them tight. I had my mechanic Janapavana Prabhu, a great devotee, I mean he saved our lives so many times through his mechanics. He took those Prabhupada's cars apart and totally rebuilt them, putting in special suspension. He put in special foam in the car, he took out the seats, everything. And he put foam all around to make it sound-proof, so Prabhupada wouldn't hear noises from the outside. with thick upholstry. Then to keep the heat out, because there wasn't air-conditioning in those days, and you couldn't buy black glass to reflect the light and heat, because India didn't make it. But you could get it on the black market in Calcutta, manufactured in Poland. At that time you could get anything imported in the black-market which was three times bigger then the legal or white market market. There was a black market for many goods made in Poland. Because India was a socialist country so they did trade with all the socialist countries. We found black glass in the market in Calcutta. And we put black glass in instead of the clear glass, which was shaking, it didn't even fit right. But later that blackglass would crack while driving over a pot-hole in the road. We put on all chrome-plated doorknobs and all new everything. And new upholstery, we put in brand-new nice upholstery with a high-back head rest for Prabhupada's head because in the Ambassador your head will go like this [forward and backward motion]. This way he had a cushion. They were installed in front and back seats. We painted the cars wine-colored because in India you can only get three colors, white, black and like a tan color, like a skin color, a little dark skin color. That's all. We didn't like that. We made it wine-colored, burgundy, and Srila Prabhupada approved of the color. Then I made these big tilakas made of copper and chrome-plated because chrome sticks to copper and it doesn't come off. And copper was cheap in those days. So I used copper and put chrome-plated on it. Then I made lotus flowers on all the four doors and the trunk of the car. Everything was chrome. I changed everything on the car. Chrome was expensive, but we wanted Prabhupada to have the best car in India. We didn't want him to have just an ordinary car that everybody else has. We wanted him to have a car that nobody has. I always thought of the best things for Prabhupada. And if I could do it, I would. Like in LA, I got the best temple for Prabhupada in Los Angeles. I tried always to do the best for Prabhupada. Even in Bombay, when I came from Pakistan, I wanted to thank Prabhupada for allowing me to risk my life for his service. So I bought him a tulasi and gold nugget mala. You'll see the gold nuggets on the chain with tulasi beads which came down to here (near upper stomach). I bought for him as a gift and he always wore it. He never gave that one away. So we rebuilt all the Prabhupada cars to make it perfectly comfortable. Prabhupada really liked these cars. He didn't bounce. Plus not only I had the black glass but I also put two fans on him, so the fans would blow on his body so he wouldn't get hot because there's no air conditioning. Then I put curtains also. Curtains. Because people would be trying to see who's in there and it would disturb Prabhupada. Then in the front of the car, I put flags, chrome-plated flag poles, and I made a flag out of silk with ‘ISKCON' on it, when the car would go, the flag would wave with ISKCON. The driver was in a white suit with an ISKCON emblem on his chest that said ‘ISKCON' and he would drive Prabhupada. He was a good driver. He was my personal driver in Calcutta wherever I went. He always washed the car every morning. He was very good. Of course, he liked that car because nobody had a car like that. So he felt puffed up too because he was driving a car that nobody else had. I had a temple car made the same way. So everything was good. When it rains you can't roll down the windows because the rain will come in. But in India, they have these rain blockers. I made those out of chrome. So even in the rain, Prabhupada could open the window and get air and the rain wouldn't come because it would block the rain. And they were made of chrome. Everything was chrome. And for night time, I put lights under the car. So at night, it would look like a moving spaceship. It didn't look like a car, it looks like something from space. And nobody had lights on underneath a car, so this is like a first. So I made the first cars for Srila Prabhupada in India. Nobody made anything like that. I did many firsts in my service to Prabhupada and I was happy to be able to do that and be the person to do it. I always thank Prabhupada and Krishna that he was able to engage me in such services. Srila Prabhupada always gave me tough assignments to perform. Now due to disease, no more tough assignments, and no more ''Gargamoney'' to serve Srila Prabhupada........I live in the past thinking with relish all the past services I performed for Srila Prabhupada................There are only two cars left out of four......................

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