DHAKA (dpa) – Romance with the Volkswagen “Beetle” seems to be a never-ending affair in Bangladesh.
It has been decades since the iconic, air-cooled car, whose design dates back to before World War II, was imported into this country but the car nicknamed after an insect still sways the hearts of the Bangladeshi motorists.“It’s the shape of the car, its unconventional engine at the back and its fast pickup which match the mood of the drivers under 40,” said Zubeir Moin, president of the Volkswagen Club of Bangladesh.The Club set up in Dhaka by Beetle owners and car mechanics some four years ago has only one avowed goal: keeping the elderly VWs in roadworthy condition.More than 100 Beetles still exist in this country but only 50 of them are still kicking up dust on Dhaka’s labyrinthine roads. A dozen others are being restored, mostly with locally fabricated spares.Volkswagen is German for “people’s car” but Dhaka’s hundreds of street children have a different name for the best-loved old car in the city.“There goes a Kauttha,” shouts a kid, momentarily stopping his play on the pavement, his face lit up by the excitement of seeing an old acquaintance.Kauttha means “turtle” in the local Dhaka dialect. These abandoned children growing up on the streets of the bustling capital city seem to have an affinity with the quaint car although probably none of them has ever taken a ride in one.Moin, a businessman, said the oldest Volkswagen in Dhaka still whirring around in good condition is a 1300 cc Beetle which rolled off the production line in Germany in 1964.He owns two classic Beetles and spends a fortune to keep them in running condition, but like other members of the club he is ever ready to foot the bill.Hafizul Islam, an up-and-coming architect in Dhaka, owned a green Beetle once but he was forced to sell it to help finance his new office. He was heartbroken over parting with his most cherished property and friends presented with him a miniature version to put on his desk.Although the number of Volkswagens in Bangladesh is declining rapidly, there is no sign of the waning of “Beetle” mania. Rather it is on the rise, claims vintage car collector Habibur Rahman Sanni.“If I get to know that a rusty broken down Beetle is up for sale anywhere in the country I will abandon all work on hand and rush to get the crumbling vehicle at any cost,” said Sanni, a real estate builder and chairman of the Old Car Club of Dhaka.The admiration for the Beetle in Bangladesh apparently transcends barriers of age, incomes and social standings. No wonder that when owners of Beetles took part in a rally in Dhaka in January hundreds of people turned out to greet the automobiles of a bygone era.
