Ludhiana, Mar 14 : Glorious relics of an age gone by hit the streets of Ludhiana when the inaugural edition of the vintage motor vehicles rally got underway.

How many of you were around in the early 1930s, when Austin cars were common in British India.

Today, only a few are proud owners. And among these is Ludhiana's Avtar Bhogal, an industrialist, who brought a 1933 Austin-England car two decades ago.

An owner of half a dozen modern vehicles, Avtar is proud running a vintage car.

"Everybody these days have a craze for vintage cars. I brought this car 20 years ago. Since childhood, I have got a craze for vintage cars as my great grandfather used to have Austin. That's why I got obsessed with this car," Avtar said.

The vintage motor vehicles rally brings together some 20 extremely select models - Austin of England (1933 and 1935), Volkswagon, Beetles, Cadillac, Chevrolet Caprice, Mercedes Benz, Jawa, Lambretta and Vespa Scooters.

Quite an endeavor by the newly formed Punjab Heritage Motoring Club!

Dr. Kuldeep Singh, founder member of the Club said, "We really feel very sorry that the heritage is slow and steadily is getting ruined. So, we want to preserve the heritage, we want to build up the taste among friends to have the old vehicles and encourage those who are really interested to buy the vehicles. We are also trying to help them out, so people come to know that people were really fond of these heritage vehicles."

In its first of its kind event in Punjab, the rally drew considerable interest from city drivers and onlookers alike, a nostalgic replay of days of the British Raj, the opulent majesty of the maharajas of a more glamorous age.

For a moment, Ludhiana went back to its glorious days, a flashback, which everyone is nostalgic about. (ANI)