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Pics: Took my Compass on an Independence Day drive with 80 other Jeeps

23rd August 2022, 16:16 by Dev Shah

Part of the plan was to park the Jeeps in a formation for pics, flag hoisting, have breakfast prepared by the home stay, a walk to the river/stream nearby, and then a short off-road drive inside the estate.

BHPian arun_josie recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Independence Day Drive with 80 Jeeps:

This was a short drive organized by the Bangalore Jeep Club(group of Jeep owners). The drive was to a home stay (Devadhama Estate @ Irlapodu) via some scenic roads. The initial plan was to go via Kanakapura but when the number of participants increased, the route was changed with the assembly point at a huge ground on Harohalli road and then a convoy drive (split) via Kulumedoddi, Kumbaradoddi to Devadhama Estate @ Irlapodu. This is a scenic route and passes via few small villages.

Around 80 Jeeps participated in this drive. The plan was to meet at the assembly point, drive to the home stay, park the Jeeps in a formation for pics, flag hoisting, have breakfast prepared by the home stay, a walk to the river/stream nearby, and then a short off-road drive inside the estate, some fun games, lunch and an option to stay till evening and return after tea/snacks.

It was a very nicely organized event by the BJC admins and volunteers. Handling 80 Jeeps and 130+ people is no small feat and requires lot of time and energy. It was flawlessly executed by the organizing committee.

Also, some goodies and a t-shirt to commemorate the day were distributed to all the participants.

PPS Motors had sent a technician along with a Meridian for test drives.

It was nice to meet some Team BHPians as well.

Here are some pics:

51 Jeeps parked in the famous Jeep grille formation and the No. 75 to mark the 75th Independence day:

A pic from the ground level, this looks more like a stock yard:

Flag hoisting was done as well:

This was at the initial assembly point:

Waiting for my turn to park in the formation:

A river/ stream nearby:

A drive to Hyderabad and back:

I started around 12:30 PM from Bannerghatta road (near Meenakshi mall) and it took me 2 hours to exit the city. Once on the highway, it was a nice and smooth drive except for some random speed breakers. I maintained the speed in the 110 range. I hit the Hyderabad ORR around 7:45 PM and reached my destination near Gachibowli by 8:15 PM. So, it took me 7 hours and 45 mins from door to door.

Hyderabad city from ORR looks really awesome! Also, the city has developed a lot recently with lots of skyscrapers and flyovers all around.

Looked very futuristic in the night.

I experienced the Hyderabad traffic and some nice biriyanis for two days. Started the return journey at 2:30 PM yesterday. I stuck to the same speed range of 110-120 Kmph with a 45 minute dinner stop near Devanahalli. I crossed the Hebbal flyover at 10PM and reached home in another 45 minutes. Thankfully the bangalore city traffic was lesser than I expected.

During this drive, I noticed lot of new eateries on this highway. Few years back, we had to search a lot for a decent stop. Now you have options like Paradise Biriyani, KFC and few other popular ones as well on the highway itself.

While going to Hyderabad: