Discover Amazing India

Desert Dash

We left from Ahmedabad after the formal launch of the VX(O) variants of the Amaze, which were part of the fleet taking us to Kutch. And like every city, the difficult part was getting out and heading in the right direction; this is where the Sat-Nav of the new car was supposed to bail us out, but we ended up in one of the only two automatic variants that are still sans the AVN pack. Now that is no reason to miss turns and go astray in the world of smartphones and maps, so I shall say we had taken our job on discovering India a little seriously and were off the highway on roads where potholes and speed humps were directly proportional to the number of people in the surrounding villages.  The detour didn’t cost us more than half an hour, so once back on the highway we were flying to cover the approximate distance of 450km. 

The first half looked simple, dual lane, spotless highway for close to 250km, meaning we could really cover up for all the wasted time and even get ahead  of most cars in the scattered convoy. The automatic was running close to the limited top-speed most of the time and after some time it became a little boring. So we stopped for food, lost all the time we had managed to cover up and got back to the job of chasing down the rest of the cars. Half way through we were once again with the pack and this is where we said goodbye to the awesome roads. Not that the roads were bad from here on, just that we were heading in the direction of the Mundra port and the heavy vehicles’ traffic had increased substantially also taking a toll on the surface quality. We exited the Mundra highway and moved on to this horrible stretch of road which is dual carriage at most places and under development everywhere. The automatic then turned out be a saviour, especially since it was already getting dark and we had not even reached Bhuj.

Our next pitstop was at close to seven in the evening at a nice hotel in Bhuj, a place that had a government setup to hand out liquor license to people from outside Gujarat. Now that is another first, I know we live in a country with anarchical laws from the medieval era that makes it mandatory to have a licence at many places. Laws that most of us have bypassed or probably not even knew existed, but this is different. Gujarat takes pride in its status and implements it rigorously, so the only way of enjoying a drink is by following the law and getting the required document. The process takes as much time as it takes in any government office in India – a lot! So by the time we were on the final 70km stretch to Rann it was well past our schedule and much closer to the time that we had kept aside for star gazing from the white dessert. Since it was already dark, we couldn’t see the scenery around, but guessing the terrain around just looking at the maps wasn’t too difficult. We were going as straight as straight could get. Zero steering input for kilometres at a stretch depicting the desert surrounding us. This bit of the journey was fast. We covered the distance in little over an hour and reached the tent city at around 9.30pm, just in time for a quick drink and dinner.

Great Rann

The day turned out to be more tiring than expected, so the drink and dinner looked more like a ritual than fun. It turned out to be a riot in the end, put a bunch of auto journalists together and they are bound to turn the place into a mad house. But it was more of a short session after which everyone wanted to hit the bed except the guys from Honda, who kept insisting that we still go and see the white desert at the night. Since we were travelling courtesy Honda, it didn’t look like we had much of a choice. So a short bus trip took us to a narrow concrete strip built like a jetty that went deep into the black empty space that stretched to infinity. Even with negligible visibility the place is overwhelming – the same set of journos who were almost obnoxiously loud few minutes back were silent for the better part of an hour. The moonless sky with a million stars spread to every corner of the horizon is a sight I doubt I would be able to see anytime soon. I am not uploading night photos, simply because they don’t offer the same experience. By the time we returned to our tent accommodations, I was tired but mighty glad that Honda kept insisting about us visiting the Rann at night.

We took the Amaze into the desert for some photographs the next day and more importantly to see the spectacle. These salt flats are massive, extending deep into Pakistan with layers of salt deposits on gypsum that is also used by the cement factories around as the raw material. The surface looks similar to ice with salt crystals glittering in the sun. The Rann had a humbling effect on everyone, it is the same feeling we get looking at the never-ending ocean or massive mountains, but this is rarer sight and by the same virtue, far more alluring. No, I didn’t go mental with the Amaze on the flats, we saved that for the couple of interesting slalom games we played in the afternoon, which CarWale won thanks to the new found love for the compact sedan.

I drove the new diesel top-end version for the rest of the trip and the changes in it were instantly noticeable. The NVH levels have improved substantially and the relentless torque is utmost handy for dual carriage highways. The AVN fitment now completes the package and the Amaze becomes one of the more logical cars in the segment with the efficiency working as the perfect icing on the sweet deal. So the rest of the day was spent in the company of the car exploring the places around, including the small hill that looks over the massive desert.

Exploring Bhuj

Day three was when we were supposed to rest, but in the haste and excitement of enjoying the place, I didn’t take enough photographs. So I set off early hoping to get some interesting photos and additional dope on the Discover Amazing India theme. We reached Bhuj early to see the Prag Mahal palace and the clock tower that forms an important part of its heritage – partly in ruins after the earth quake of 2001. The fort still stands at the centre of the town and the still functional clock tower is one of the few of its kind and of the even fewer that let you go to the top of the structure. I wanted to stay back, the migratory birds in the surrounding lakes were waiting to be snapped, but we had a flight to catch and that meant I had to cut short the city tour.

Bhuj has many more secrets; the grit and determination of the people is awe-inspiring, almost 70 per cent of the city was damaged in the calamity in 2001. The houses in even the oldest parts of the city are swanking new, each having a story to tell. Not just the sad ones, but also of pride, glory and heritage. There was no doubt that we would have a wonderful experience at the Rann Utsav, but discovering India isn’t just about the wonders, there is lot more that make every part of this country amazing. Discovering India is a never-ending journey and the one with the Honda Amaze was one exciting chapter in a small part of Gujarat that now I wish could have gone on for a little longer.