Mahindra Adventure – Sakaleshpur 2012 As I had mentioned in my first OTR report, I wanted more and like a junkie was waiting for my next fix. 25 Aug, the date was discussed in Wayanad itself and I was eagerly looking forward to it. The regular junkies were contacted and the plan was set.
It was my second off roading event and I was looking forward for fresh air and slush. I was excited to attend my first Mahindra event, all I had seen were threads from Vinod and wondering how would it be, now wanted to see firsthand the management and execution of the event. And I must say they didn’t disappoint. Regular off roader like Chandan Gurukar and Roshan had informed me not to expect tough trails like Wayand, as these trails are decided keeping in mind all Mahindra vehicles which include LWB ones too. But it was fun never the less.
The event as expected was grand in scale and the participation was great too. There were in excess of 60 vehicles in the event which included 4 LWB ones. Registration was a breeze as there was no vehicle scrutiny what-so-ever, although they could have had more than one person manning the registration booth. I was surprised to see an unregistered Pajero sport in photoshoot at a river crossing enroute to the event and later parked in the lineup. However, it didn’t take part in the event, as expected.
The trail had only about 15meters of slush! Mostly because it hadn’t rained for a couple of days as mentioned by the locals. However, it did make up for it with scenic drive and a lot of stream wading, which for me was the best part of the event. The trail was in 3 sections, section 1 was stream wading then it was a drive in the jungle which took us on top of a mountain, last section was so more stream wading and then back to the starting point. Moving between these sections meant travelling on normal roads to get there, here due to lack of sign boards and the groups being far apart we got lost! Not just our Jeep but a whole bunch including a Bolero with Mechs from Mumbai. However I did use this opportunity to have a chat with the head Mech from Mahindra, it was great interacting with him. Few spirited individuals decided to utilize the time by trying to conquer a hill, it did provide some fun and points on what not to do in an OTR!
Overall it was a well-organized and well planned trail, had it rained for couple of hours the whole experience would have been different. I saw a lot of similar faces whom I had seen in Wayanad, I am beginning to realize that off roading is a small community and everyone is open to interact and talk 4X4 at length. There are all kinds of people sharing one passion and it our choice how we choose to approach it. I have chosen my path, to drive sober.
In this event we missed carrying an SLR, all pix are taken from N5800, pardon the picture quality. |