Pune: Retired Regional Transport Officer Ratnakar Joshi has created a unique Ganpati decoration at his home this year: a traffic congestion scene made from his collection of 250 miniature car models.
Joshi, a retired RTO employee, has been collecting miniature car models from 1998. Today he has a collection of 250 car models out of which 175 are imported. Joshi said, “In 1986 I joined RTO as a junior auditor and while pursuing my job every day from 10 am to 6 pm, one of my friends gave me an imported miniature car model of Mercedes Benz. Thus the craze of collecting miniature car models started. I decided to organise a exhibition once the collection reaches over 100 miniature car models.”
Joshi has been collecting miniature car models for 30 years now and every year on Road Safety Week he sets up an exhibition of his cars. He has an entry his collection of cars in the Limca Book of World Records in 2012.
Joshi has also been collecting miniature plane models. Two years ago, during the Ganpati festival he made a decoration with miniature plane models. Joshi said, “Two years ago during the Ganpati festival I made a airport scene displaying miniature plane models. I am collecting these plane models for last two to three years. Till now I have collected 10 to 15 miniature plane models out of which some are imported.”
He said, “Looking at the current scenario of daily traffic congestion on all roads of the city, I thought of creating a traffic scene from miniature car models for this year’s Ganpati decoration. This decoration gives a social message that people should follow the rules and regulations of traffic, otherwise the traffic congestion issue would never be solved.”
