Honda Drive to Discover 6: From Jodhpur to Jaisalmer

Honda Drive To Discover 6

 

 

Having covered nearly 1,000km after plenty of driving, shuffling between playlists and relishing the dusty yet mystical plains of Rajasthan, I’m back in Mumbai and less than an hour from home. Although settled quietly in the back of a cab, the maddening traffic and the typically dug-up roads weren’t doing any favour and soon enough I found myself recollecting instances from the sixth edition of Honda’s Drive to Discover.

 

As a reminder, Honda has this Drive to Discover road trip campaign, which for years has had us motoring enthusiasts let loose in some of their cars, in search for memorable and truly great locations (of which there are plenty). For the sixth edition set in Rajasthan, the idea was pretty clear: Fly to Jodhpur and from thereon drive up north to Jaisalmer, hit some dunes along the way, explore the locales and make our way back to Jodhpur just as well. Now, when it comes to kicking off a few days’ worth of driving, a sunny Friday afternoon isn’t the best of times. More so considering how infuriating the traffic can get in a city like Jodhpur where there is no sense of direction at all. Fortunately, we managed to chalk out a few diversions around the congested areas quite early into the route and made a quick getaway from the city.

 

 

Having escaped the busy city streets, we headed onto the National Highway 114 – a fairly smooth stretch of road that runs only in the districts of Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. For this leg, we had a petrol powered Honda Jazz to trundle us along. Running in the midst of a fleet of more powerful cars including a pair of CR-Vs, the little Jazz showed enough gusto to get past slow moving traffic and maintain triple-digit speeds all day long. Quick overtaking manoeuvres, however, did require a little planning as well as a few downshifts. All in all, day one was pretty much straightforward as we moved along in small convoys, stopping only to load up our cameras with pictures of arrow-straight tarmac, distant sand dunes, rustic artefacts and a lot of camels!

 

 

Day two was deemed as free drive which meant us lot could explore Jaisalmer or anywhere nearby. While some decided to scavenge for souvenirs from the local market, rest hit the sand dunes nearer to our overnight stay. Meanwhile, we decided to head over to Longewala which is best known for being the site of a battle during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

 

 

While there are several roads in this country which lead towards the international borders either through the mountains, through the plains or through the deserts, the one leading towards the Longewala post is backed with a historic status. It was in 1971 when a small troop of the Indian Army was put under heavy attack by a large armoured regiment of Pakistan in the battlefield of Longewala. It was a moment of pride and joy when the battlefield became a graveyard of Pakistani tanks and recoilless as the Indian soldiers successfully fended off the attack.  

 

 

Nearly half a century later, to be able to set foot on the sacred land that is immersed with the heart and soul of those brave hearts who battled against all the odds certainly deepened our respect for the Indian Army to a whole new level.

 

As we moved away from the stories of the war and the rebellions we gradually saw the landscape change as we made our back to Jaisalmer and then eventually on to Jodhpur. For the return leg, we took off with a manual Honda CR-V and things were pretty much the same as they were in the Jazz, well except for the higher driving position and a bit more poke under the hood. In typical Honda fashion, the 2-litre motor revved cleanly all the way and the smooth-shifting 6-speeder made for quick gear changes, allowing us to make quick progress. Predictably, miles and miles of barren lands and small villages blurred by as we headed towards Barmer where our lunch stop was in order.

 

 

Post lunch, it was time to switch back to the Jazz and as much as we loved the car-like dynamics and the additional grunt of the CR-V, it’s the former that turned out to be more fun. The Jazz, in fact, ran just as well as the CR-V and followed the bigger Honda everywhere like a snappy little terrier. It, of course, ended up squeezing every ounce of horsepower out of its engine to blast past oversized trucks that are a common sight on the national highways. Moving forwards, we left most of our planned route behind and agreed to cut down a few roadside stops and stick to the tarmac instead. As it turned out, the trick worked well in a way given that we made good progress and by late evening were back in the hotel in Jodhpur. 

 

 

The concluding day of our road trip had us all packing our stuff as well as souvenirs and leaving for the airport. It also marked the end of my first trip for 2016, and what a trip this has been! We might not have seen the biggest artefacts in the world, nor the biggest sand dunes and certainly not the most civilised road manners, but everything that we had seen has created a distinct aura around it, with the stories, the beliefs and age-old traditions. Also, both the Honda Jazz and the CR-V fared brilliantly as well although truth be told, I was more bowled over by the Jazz and its adrenaline-charged rawness for covering ground in a way that, more often than not, would be overlooked by its puny power output.

 

 

Honda Connect app overview

 

Throughout the drive, all our cars were linked to each other via Honda’s new Connect app which boasts of various features to enhance the ownership experience. Features like location tracking, car’s health monitor, finding the nearest fuel pump and trip analysis came in quite handy during our escapade into the barren lands of Rajasthan. The app can be had at all Honda dealerships at an introductory price of Rs 2,999.