The story of my jeep: MM 440

Kandisa · 14th January 2009, 11:25

Prologue: I was itching to start this thread for a long long time. But somehow was not able to line it up properly. So thought, let me finally do this in the New Year and here it goes.
Warning: It is going to be bit long and may sound boring at places, because I am not that much a good writer like Samurai. So bear with that.

The story
Due to my father’s transferrable job in a nationalized bank, I have been to various places in West Bengal. And as usual in those days, the official vehicle of the bank offices used to be Jeeps. I can still remember when I was around 7 years, one day I insisted to sit in the driver’s seat of the jeep, when it came to our house for dropping my father. The driver finally made me sit on his lap while driving and gave me chance to hold the steering wheel for couple of times during a short ride!

Though the sound of the engine and the basic rugged look of the jeep always had a different appeal to me, I never ever had a thought of owning a jeep, primarily because I was not very aware of its true characteristics, potential and thrills. Because of my inherent lazy nature and lack of necessity, I even didn’t bother to learn driving until around a year back when it became a requirement because of shift of my office to a remote location in greater noida. Like any other ‘normal’ human being, we (me and wife) started searching for an entry-level hatch to buy in our family. At this point of time, one day I accidentally stumbled across the Tata TL 4x4 monster. Got the beginner’s idea of the basic aspects of a four wheel drive, what it can do etc etc. The look of the vehicle was also highly appealing in the brochure and for couple of days I kept on searching more information on this, managed to read a test drive report of someone in Mumbai. But the day I came to know about its cost, I realized I should not think of buying this vehicle even in the dream. Off-course, not to mention that for a beginner its almost impossible to drive this huge piece of machine. But still, imagining about a vehicle like this did give me some new kind of feel.

Its during this period, while browsing one day, I came across the domain of TeamBhp. And oh man, I was literally dumbstruck to see the kind of interactions on every possible aspects of an automobile. Meanwhile an Alto was finalized for the 1st buy and I did get all the highly useful info I needed from the suggestion thread to buy a new vehicle. Easy manoeuvring, small parking requirement, no hitches, good mileage- Alto did impress me as a starting car.
Time moved on and one fine lucky day I discovered that there is a forum on 4x4 and off-roading in Tbhp! After having a glimpse, I told to myself, how come I missed this zone till now! The next couple of days, probably the only thing I did was to gulp and guzzle the stories/ descriptions/ experiences/ pictures / OTR reports submitted by all the off-road enthusiastic, GTO, Samurai, Khan_Sultan, Arka, headers, nitrous, DirtyDan, Spitfire, Jammy (and many others..) to name a few. It was just not the thrills of seeing the jeeps and jeepers into action into amazing terrains, but also the kind of sentiment that people have with these machines e.g. GTO’s thread on his classic. I really never could imagine how far one can go to get his passionate possession back to life!
It might sound bit exaggerating, but for around two-three weeks, day and night I literally lived in a sort of wonderland full of jeeps, jeeps and only jeeps all around. (However now I realize I was not the only one to go through such kind of phase!cheers

For the 1st time I could understand a bit why a jeep is so different from the rest of the genres in automobile arena. All of a sudden, all kinds of jeeps, including the old govt ones, plying in the roads started having a curious and enthusiastic look from my side. My colleagues, who use to travel with me, were bit surprised; whats the big deal in seeing Jeeps! After the initial hysteria got settled down a bit, I came back to reality and realized something: probably it will not be possible for me to stay away from getting hold of a Jeep!
To be continued……

gotzuk · 14th January 2009, 11:44

Ah!!
So finally you decide to write..

Keep going on, we are all ears!!

Cheers

vinayrathore · 14th January 2009, 12:04

Kandisa,

Your story looks inspired by the Trammway school of writing

.

Kidding man, we all here understand how the Jeep fever feels within. A sight of a Jeep on road is like something no layman can understand. We can stop, stare, follow it till we have completely laid our eyes on it and even after its gone away from sight, next 2-3 hours are spent thinking of it and how can I incorporate some thing I saw in that Jeep to mine.

Waiting for more Kandisa but with pics for sure!

Cheers!

trammway · 14th January 2009, 12:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kandisa

All of a sudden, all kinds of jeeps, including the old govt ones, plying in the roads started having a curious and enthusiastic look from my side. My colleagues, who use to travel with me, were bit surprised; whats the big deal in seeing Jeeps! After the initial hysteria got settled down a bit, I came back to reality and realized something: probably it will not be possible for me to stay away from getting hold of a Jeep!
To be continued……

This is kind of addiction and related to human mental science, I diagnosed it as per the said symptoms, you have got the Jeepophobia decease.

You need to have the medicine called "Jeep" until you get cured and have the Off-road therapy every fortnight to get out of the problem.

Please do remember it is a contagious diseases can easily spread to people around you, as I did.

gotzuk · 14th January 2009, 12:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by trammway

This is kind of addiction and related to human mental science, I diagnosed it as per the said symptoms, you have got the Jeepophobia decease.

No No, Trammway Baba, No Jeepophobia, Its Jeepolovia..

Sabareesh · 14th January 2009, 12:26

wait wait... let me get my popcorn and grab a coke while the introductions roll in...

Jokes apart.. JEEPs have to be driven to understand... I got this disease through Team-BHP and today I am a proud owner of a CJ500D 4x4.

Let the story go - on..

Cheers

Sabareesh

Kandisa · 14th January 2009, 12:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by gotzuk

So finally you decide to write..

Keep going on, we are all ears!!

Yeah thought let me share it before it gets too cold! Thanks for the interest, hope it will persist.

Quote:

Originally Posted by trammway

This is kind of addiction and related to human mental science, I diagnosed it as per the said symptoms, you have got the Jeepophobia decease.

...Please do remember it is a contagious diseases can easily spread to people around you, as I did.

Can't agree more. And there are jeepoctors (jeep doctors a.k.a. 4x4 veterans) around to help with the medicine and treatment!

Quote:

Originally Posted by gotzuk

..Its Jeepolovia...

Much better a term, liked it

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sabareesh

JEEPs have to be driven to understand

Yeah definitely, that is one of the fundamental theorems that I have heard from the jeepers.
-Best regards,

Salikt · 14th January 2009, 13:11

Another story getting started here!

Where is the pictures? Since you start the thread, at least one snap of your baby should be posted there in the first post. Thats for our inspiration and interest....

sali

GoSlow · 14th January 2009, 13:19

Dada.. at last you decide to write. I was about to coax you again. But the 'to be continued' is like hindi serial.

some pics of you new love?

renegade · 14th January 2009, 13:20

great going kandisa.was waiting to hear from you about your experience of having a jeep.plus the otr experience.btw your jeep is safe with me.lol.why dont you come over to noida and click some pics to post it?

Kandisa · 14th January 2009, 13:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by Salikt

Where is the pictures?...Thats for our inspiration and interest....

sali

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoSlow

...the 'to be continued' is like hindi serial......some pics of you new love?

Oh you impatient people

Hang on for a while,surely you won't be disappointed. And this won't be a mega-serial I promise!!
Thanks Vinay for sharing the exact feelings. Seems these are universal in nature. I did get influence from trammway, but at the same time from Samurai too. His OTR reports are really pieces of writing expertise coupled with thrills and excitements.
P.S: I would have also wanted the pictures at the 1st place if it had been started by someone else

Parm · 14th January 2009, 14:17

congrat on getting bitten by jeep bug.

no offence to you kandisa, i mean from your post i can see you are a "new" driver!

i respect your enthusiasm for owning a jeep and becoming a jeeper, but my friend you need to take it nice and slow in owning a jeep and becoming a real 4x4 off roadie!

making a jeep will take away your quality time from your family and thats when things start going haywire...

cheers:

Kandisa · 14th January 2009, 14:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parm

..no offence to you kandisa, i mean from your post i can see you are a "new" driver!

Yeah I am, probably the least experienced in the forum, and trying hard to be better. And the kind of road situations we have in NCR, particularly in Noida, it makes the learning very fast!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parm

i respect your enthusiasm for owning a jeep and becoming a jeeper, but my friend you need to take it nice and slow in owning a jeep and becoming a real 4x4 off roadie!

Very true. I am taking it that way only and whatever I have shared so far, are actually 4-5 months old narration. And I am nowhere near the 'real off roadie' mark, nor will be in near future. Just taken the plunge to own one, will start to know the vehicle then and finally the skill learning willl start.

Quote:

making a jeep will take away your quality time from your family and thats when things start going haywire...

Rightly said. Thanks to this forum again to realize this truth even before searching for a jeep, and fortunately things haven't gone haywire as of now, as you will see in coming posts.
-Best regards,

trammway · 14th January 2009, 14:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kandisa

I did get influence from trammway, but at the same time from Samurai too. His OTR reports are really pieces of writing expertise coupled with thrills and excitements.

Oh Boy... I'm stumped!

By the way, the "to be continued..." is a universal episode phrase.

I completely agree on Samurai's reports about the trips, I virtually see all the places he visits along with the actions by simply sitting in the aircon workstation.

Kandisa · 14th January 2009, 16:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by renegade

great going kandisa.was waiting to hear from you about your experience of having a jeep.plus the otr experience.btw your jeep is safe with me.lol.why dont you come over to noida and click some pics to post it?

Oh Man,I completely missed your reply!

you are posting here finally!!! Oh, ok, i dnt want to spill the bin for some time more. Till then let it be within me,you and gotzuk

14th January 2009, 11:25	#1
Kandisa Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Noida Posts: 1,118 Thanked: 559 Times View My Garage	The story of my jeep: MM 440 Prologue: I was itching to start this thread for a long long time. But somehow was not able to line it up properly. So thought, let me finally do this in the New Year and here it goes. Warning: It is going to be bit long and may sound boring at places, because I am not that much a good writer like Samurai. So bear with that. The story Due to my father’s transferrable job in a nationalized bank, I have been to various places in West Bengal. And as usual in those days, the official vehicle of the bank offices used to be Jeeps. I can still remember when I was around 7 years, one day I insisted to sit in the driver’s seat of the jeep, when it came to our house for dropping my father. The driver finally made me sit on his lap while driving and gave me chance to hold the steering wheel for couple of times during a short ride! Though the sound of the engine and the basic rugged look of the jeep always had a different appeal to me, I never ever had a thought of owning a jeep, primarily because I was not very aware of its true characteristics, potential and thrills. Because of my inherent lazy nature and lack of necessity, I even didn’t bother to learn driving until around a year back when it became a requirement because of shift of my office to a remote location in greater noida. Like any other ‘normal’ human being, we (me and wife) started searching for an entry-level hatch to buy in our family. At this point of time, one day I accidentally stumbled across the Tata TL 4x4 monster. Got the beginner’s idea of the basic aspects of a four wheel drive, what it can do etc etc. The look of the vehicle was also highly appealing in the brochure and for couple of days I kept on searching more information on this, managed to read a test drive report of someone in Mumbai. But the day I came to know about its cost, I realized I should not think of buying this vehicle even in the dream. Off-course, not to mention that for a beginner its almost impossible to drive this huge piece of machine. But still, imagining about a vehicle like this did give me some new kind of feel. Its during this period, while browsing one day, I came across the domain of TeamBhp. And oh man, I was literally dumbstruck to see the kind of interactions on every possible aspects of an automobile. Meanwhile an Alto was finalized for the 1st buy and I did get all the highly useful info I needed from the suggestion thread to buy a new vehicle. Easy manoeuvring, small parking requirement, no hitches, good mileage- Alto did impress me as a starting car. Time moved on and one fine lucky day I discovered that there is a forum on 4x4 and off-roading in Tbhp! After having a glimpse, I told to myself, how come I missed this zone till now! The next couple of days, probably the only thing I did was to gulp and guzzle the stories/ descriptions/ experiences/ pictures / OTR reports submitted by all the off-road enthusiastic, GTO, Samurai, Khan_Sultan, Arka, headers, nitrous, DirtyDan, Spitfire, Jammy (and many others..) to name a few. It was just not the thrills of seeing the jeeps and jeepers into action into amazing terrains, but also the kind of sentiment that people have with these machines e.g. GTO’s thread on his classic. I really never could imagine how far one can go to get his passionate possession back to life! It might sound bit exaggerating, but for around two-three weeks, day and night I literally lived in a sort of wonderland full of jeeps, jeeps and only jeeps all around. (However now I realize I was not the only one to go through such kind of phase!cheers For the 1st time I could understand a bit why a jeep is so different from the rest of the genres in automobile arena. All of a sudden, all kinds of jeeps, including the old govt ones, plying in the roads started having a curious and enthusiastic look from my side. My colleagues, who use to travel with me, were bit surprised; whats the big deal in seeing Jeeps! After the initial hysteria got settled down a bit, I came back to reality and realized something: probably it will not be possible for me to stay away from getting hold of a Jeep! To be continued……
	(2) Thanks

14th January 2009, 11:44	#2
gotzuk BHPian Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Delhi / Shimla Posts: 496 Thanked: 114 Times View My Garage	Ah!! So finally you decide to write.. Keep going on, we are all ears!! Cheers
	() Thanks

14th January 2009, 12:04	#3
vinayrathore BHPian Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: DL-9C/KA-01 Posts: 560 Thanked: 502 Times	Kandisa, Your story looks inspired by the Trammway school of writing. Kidding man, we all here understand how the Jeep fever feels within. A sight of a Jeep on road is like something no layman can understand. We can stop, stare, follow it till we have completely laid our eyes on it and even after its gone away from sight, next 2-3 hours are spent thinking of it and how can I incorporate some thing I saw in that Jeep to mine. Waiting for more Kandisa but with pics for sure! Cheers!
	() Thanks

14th January 2009, 12:26	#6
Sabareesh BHPian Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Ambarnath Posts: 338 Thanked: 88 Times View My Garage	wait wait... let me get my popcorn and grab a coke while the introductions roll in... Jokes apart.. JEEPs have to be driven to understand... I got this disease through Team-BHP and today I am a proud owner of a CJ500D 4x4. Let the story go - on.. Cheers Sabareesh
	() Thanks

14th January 2009, 13:11	#8
Salikt BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Calicut / Riyadh Posts: 285 Thanked: 35 Times	Another story getting started here! Where is the pictures? Since you start the thread, at least one snap of your baby should be posted there in the first post. Thats for our inspiration and interest.... sali
	() Thanks

14th January 2009, 13:19	#9
GoSlow BHPian Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Noida Posts: 507 Thanked: 78 Times	Dada.. at last you decide to write. I was about to coax you again. But the 'to be continued' is like hindi serial. some pics of you new love?
	() Thanks

14th January 2009, 13:20	#10
renegade BHPian Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NEW DELHI Posts: 184 Thanked: 43 Times View My Garage	great going kandisa.was waiting to hear from you about your experience of having a jeep.plus the otr experience.btw your jeep is safe with me.lol.why dont you come over to noida and click some pics to post it?
	() Thanks

14th January 2009, 14:17	#12
Parm Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: in a Toyota! Posts: 2,753 Thanked: 890 Times	congrat on getting bitten by jeep bug. no offence to you kandisa, i mean from your post i can see you are a "new" driver! i respect your enthusiasm for owning a jeep and becoming a jeeper, but my friend you need to take it nice and slow in owning a jeep and becoming a real 4x4 off roadie! making a jeep will take away your quality time from your family and thats when things start going haywire... cheers:
	() Thanks