Netaji car vrooms, Tagore Humber hits funds bump

KOLKATA: The German Wanderer that took

Netaji to Gomoh station from his Elgin Road

house sprung back to life recently after a thorough renovation. But barely 5km away, on Rabindra Bharati’s Jorasanko campus, the Humber wasn’t so lucky. So what it was used by Rabindranath Tagore and hundreds of visitors drop by to see it every week? The iconic car, parked there since 1933, last got painted and polished 25 years ago. Rusted radiator grills, cracked headlights and a non-functioning engine have left it in a sorry state.

The day when President Pranab Mukherjee unveiled the restored sedan to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Great Escape, the Rabindra Bharati Society, which is the custodian of Tagore’s car, appealed to private sponsors to come forward and sponsor the Humber’s restoration. However, naysayers insist that it isn’t the resources but the will that has reduced the car to a piece of junk.

“When we learnt about Netaji’s car being restored, we had a meeting to restore Tagore’s car. Getting spare parts is a problem but the most difficult part is to get the funding,” said

Siddhartha Mukherjee

, secretary of Rabindra Bharati Society.

Just next to the car stands a board stating it is maintained by Howrah Motors. When TOI got in touch with Raghunath Dey, chairman and managing director of

Howrah Motors

, he claimed, “Some 35 years back, we were asked to maintain Tagore’s car at Visva-Bharati. But someone very high-up had advised us not to get it back to the running condition for the fear of the car being misused by other riders. They insisted that the car should have been used only by Tagore and his son. So all we did was to paint and polish it. We had restored it but just stopped at bringing it to the running condition,” Dey said.

“We wanted to fully restore it and also get the space in front of garage illuminated. But red-tape prevented me. Unless permitted specifically, I am not in a position to make any extra effort,” confessed Dey, who is also the vice-president of the Rabindra Bharati Society.

Viswa-Bharati’s officiating vice-chancellor Swapan Datta, however, said, “At present, we don’t have any plans for restoration.” Tapati Mukherjee, director of

Rabindra Bhawan

, also said that there were no plans to get the car back to running condition.

If spare parts are available, overhauling this car can cost around Rs 25 lakh. However, Mukherjee insisted that fund scarcity was the main issue. According to her, “We only get a yearly Rs 10 lakh as rent from

Victoria Memorial

since we have loaned them our rare collection of paintings and manuscripts. That sum is required to keep the Society running. We will appreciate if any corporate house comes forward to help us.”


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