It may not be the best looking car on the roads but the advertising campaign tried to brand it as ‘the blue eyed boy’. Now Maruti Suzuli’s brand manager will be heartbroken to know what they call the Wagon R in rural Madhya Pradesh.

In the Chattarpur district of Madhya Pradesh, particularly the rural areas, the Wagon R is ‘Bhata Gadi.’ The interesting part isn’t the name, but the etymology.

For ease of pronunciation, Wagon R became Began R. The ‘R’ was subsequently dropped and only Began remained. Began is Hindi for brinjal and in the local dialect they call brinjals bhata. Now since only a bhata wouldn’t suffice to refer to a car, hence the suffix gadi. Therefore Bhata Gadi.

Wagon R - the Brinjal Car

“Wagon R – the Brinjal Car.”

(This info is courtesy the Chaiwali who in turn sourced it from a friend from Chattarpur.)