43. Etched in dark chocolate. On an RR styled cake. In this room filled with lights and colors and party caps…
43. Not just some number. I was 17 when I first felt these walls. They were less shinier then. Music was absent. A good day at work meant a successful mimic of the V12 at 4000 rpm… Or so we joked…
To many in this world, these walls spell luxury, royalty and magic. Connoisseurs (we never
entertained ‘customers’) ranging from royals to Hollywood to dot com billionaires to inheritance blessed ones to jackpot winners – All have graced these pathways with trepidation… Their eyes filled with awe knowing the very womb where their Rolls Royce would be born… And there was one aspect that elevated the senses in all of them…
One could never buy a Rolls Royce… One had to be deemed worthy and of class enough to experience the magic… The Spirit of Ecstasy came first; money - much later…
For the last decade, I have relished being the oldest employee of this factory. As would be expected, I have been honored on many occasions – anniversary and otherwise. I am a Godfather to some of the kids here. The top management knows me by name and by virtue of age, I’m respected throughout the factory.
But this was Rolls Royce. From the day I first touched one to this day, I have loved them. Cliché it may sound, when I tell about that time I sat in the garage lot speaking with a Silver Seraph and felt the Flying Lady come to life in her blue aura… Or how I used to name in my mind, the generations of Rolls as if they were my descendents… The angst in my heart when one of them dears met with a crash…
I should mention though that I have never driven a Rolls Royce. I have never been denied the opportunity, however my fear that the magic spell omnipresent in me would vanish kept me away from the wheel of a Rolls. I might have loved to own one, but I was never sure. Rolls was never a car for me; it was always something more mystical… Something which I never wanted to attain and content with feeling it’s presence…
And today I have to say goodbye… If the law permitted, I would have stayed till the heavens let me in… But having to say goodbye is a rule of this world right? You have to leave your loved ones, a human life’s fruits of toil, the sea, the mountains… Philosophical I know, but these thoughts fill me as I stare into that dark brown icing that says 43.
As I receive handshakes and warm hugs, my mind still wanders off to the garage… Visions pass by and time seemed to have slowed down. I could see the Director coming towards me.
“Would you like to take a round of the garage before the party ends?”
I nodded. The joy in my heart knew no bounds.
We rode down in the Rolls buggy. The familiar feeling of being home wafted into my senses as we rode into the garage. I wished I could be buried there after my time. The sense of attachment was too strong to let go off.
The garage had been cleaned and was bathed in slight blue, in tune with the rays of the sun. A spotlight at the centre illuminated the area where we were headed to. The cars were all in facing position, as if bearing witness to my farewell.
I was greeted to a generous applause as I got down the Rolls buggy.
The Director spoke – “This has been his abode for the last 43 years. His association with the garage has been so ingrained in all of us, that it is next to impossible to imagine this place without him. As much as we value the presence of every Rolls here, we treasure this man who has spent the whole of his working life making sure that the mysticism behind a Rolls Royce was never a result of manufacture.
As I approach the limit beyond which words would prove no justice to this wonderful man, it makes sense to show our gratitude and affection in the form of a parting gift. What place is more befitting than the garage right?”
I smiled with tears in my eyes and a distant feeling of how 43 years had passed by so quickly…
The Director continued…
“Our problem though was what to gift you. 43 years is no small period and for sure this garage would miss you the moment you step outside. As would all of us. The least we could do then was to make sure that you left us with an honor that we could best achieve.”
He paused for a moment, as I took a deep breath.
“So the staff and management and the stakeholders of Rolls Royce decided to create this for you…”
The spotlight swooped to a dark corner where stood a magnificent Rolls Royce Phantom. Bathed in blue and silver with the Flying Lady in full glow. No this could not be real…
The Director walked me to the Limited Edition Phantom, of which only 43 units would be created... As I felt my fingers over the Spirit of Ecstasy, I felt glad for the first time in my life that I was speech disabled. For I was not sure whether words would be able to describe the elated feeling I was going through. Tears obstructed my vision and I fumbled in my pockets for a kerchief. I was oblivious to the cheering and the celebrations all around me…
It was just me and my new kid that moment…
Hours later, I made my way home from that garage, through the balloon filled lane to the gates of the factory of Rolls Royce Cars Plc. To a crowd waiting to bid me goodbye.
And no I was not driving the Rolls. For today, I was that connoisseur in his first Rolls Royce wafting through, living a dream and remembering with a smile what Jeremy Clarkson famously said – “It would be a shame to pass through life without entering a Rolls-Royce Phantom at least once”.
And I know without a doubt that this life has been well lived...
43. Not just some number. I was 17 when I first felt these walls. They were less shinier then. Music was absent. A good day at work meant a successful mimic of the V12 at 4000 rpm… Or so we joked…
To many in this world, these walls spell luxury, royalty and magic. Connoisseurs (we never
entertained ‘customers’) ranging from royals to Hollywood to dot com billionaires to inheritance blessed ones to jackpot winners – All have graced these pathways with trepidation… Their eyes filled with awe knowing the very womb where their Rolls Royce would be born… And there was one aspect that elevated the senses in all of them…
One could never buy a Rolls Royce… One had to be deemed worthy and of class enough to experience the magic… The Spirit of Ecstasy came first; money - much later…
For the last decade, I have relished being the oldest employee of this factory. As would be expected, I have been honored on many occasions – anniversary and otherwise. I am a Godfather to some of the kids here. The top management knows me by name and by virtue of age, I’m respected throughout the factory.
But this was Rolls Royce. From the day I first touched one to this day, I have loved them. Cliché it may sound, when I tell about that time I sat in the garage lot speaking with a Silver Seraph and felt the Flying Lady come to life in her blue aura… Or how I used to name in my mind, the generations of Rolls as if they were my descendents… The angst in my heart when one of them dears met with a crash…
I should mention though that I have never driven a Rolls Royce. I have never been denied the opportunity, however my fear that the magic spell omnipresent in me would vanish kept me away from the wheel of a Rolls. I might have loved to own one, but I was never sure. Rolls was never a car for me; it was always something more mystical… Something which I never wanted to attain and content with feeling it’s presence…
And today I have to say goodbye… If the law permitted, I would have stayed till the heavens let me in… But having to say goodbye is a rule of this world right? You have to leave your loved ones, a human life’s fruits of toil, the sea, the mountains… Philosophical I know, but these thoughts fill me as I stare into that dark brown icing that says 43.
As I receive handshakes and warm hugs, my mind still wanders off to the garage… Visions pass by and time seemed to have slowed down. I could see the Director coming towards me.
“Would you like to take a round of the garage before the party ends?”
I nodded. The joy in my heart knew no bounds.
We rode down in the Rolls buggy. The familiar feeling of being home wafted into my senses as we rode into the garage. I wished I could be buried there after my time. The sense of attachment was too strong to let go off.
The garage had been cleaned and was bathed in slight blue, in tune with the rays of the sun. A spotlight at the centre illuminated the area where we were headed to. The cars were all in facing position, as if bearing witness to my farewell.
I was greeted to a generous applause as I got down the Rolls buggy.
The Director spoke – “This has been his abode for the last 43 years. His association with the garage has been so ingrained in all of us, that it is next to impossible to imagine this place without him. As much as we value the presence of every Rolls here, we treasure this man who has spent the whole of his working life making sure that the mysticism behind a Rolls Royce was never a result of manufacture.
As I approach the limit beyond which words would prove no justice to this wonderful man, it makes sense to show our gratitude and affection in the form of a parting gift. What place is more befitting than the garage right?”
I smiled with tears in my eyes and a distant feeling of how 43 years had passed by so quickly…
The Director continued…
“Our problem though was what to gift you. 43 years is no small period and for sure this garage would miss you the moment you step outside. As would all of us. The least we could do then was to make sure that you left us with an honor that we could best achieve.”
He paused for a moment, as I took a deep breath.
“So the staff and management and the stakeholders of Rolls Royce decided to create this for you…”
The spotlight swooped to a dark corner where stood a magnificent Rolls Royce Phantom. Bathed in blue and silver with the Flying Lady in full glow. No this could not be real…
The Director walked me to the Limited Edition Phantom, of which only 43 units would be created... As I felt my fingers over the Spirit of Ecstasy, I felt glad for the first time in my life that I was speech disabled. For I was not sure whether words would be able to describe the elated feeling I was going through. Tears obstructed my vision and I fumbled in my pockets for a kerchief. I was oblivious to the cheering and the celebrations all around me…
It was just me and my new kid that moment…
Hours later, I made my way home from that garage, through the balloon filled lane to the gates of the factory of Rolls Royce Cars Plc. To a crowd waiting to bid me goodbye.
And no I was not driving the Rolls. For today, I was that connoisseur in his first Rolls Royce wafting through, living a dream and remembering with a smile what Jeremy Clarkson famously said – “It would be a shame to pass through life without entering a Rolls-Royce Phantom at least once”.
And I know without a doubt that this life has been well lived...
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