Thar Visits Thar

[J.Ravi]

On 16 Nov 2022, I brought home my all time favourite : Mahindra Thar LX Petrol AT Hardtop Red Rage. From my high school days, I was dreaming of driving/riding Willys Jeep and Royal Enfield Bullet; now, both have become a reality in my lifetime, assuming Thar has the same gene and DNA of the erstwhile Willys Jeep.

Thar is my
* first 4x4, A/T tyred, genuine automatic vehicle [not counting Nexon AMT]
* second Mahindra [after XUV 5OO]
* third SUV [counting XUV 5OO and Nexon as SUVs]
* fourth petrol [after Omni/Versa/Linea]

After bringing home Thar, I drove it to Shravanabelagola, Chennai, Kundadri Hill, Agumbe Ghat, Kundapura, Maravanthe Beach, Hattiangadi and Karkala, completing 2,000 km+. But, I did not use 4x4 anywhere. During these days, whenever I start my Raging Red Thar, it used to taunt me saying, '4x4 was not engaged in 2,000 km'! To put an end to these funny opening remarks, I used to engage 4H and drive from shed to portico of my home every now and then.

When I had owned Fiat Linea [2009-2014], I took her to its birth place, Fiat plant at Ranjangaon, MH in 2010 and 2012, both these plant visits were organised by Team Fiat India. Similarly, during my ownership of Mahindra XUV 5OO [2013-2018], I drove it to Mahindra Chakan plant, MH. For Thar, I wished to drive it to its name sake, Thar desert, RJ. So, I was planning an itinerary covering Sam sand dunes, where I could use 4x4, when I stumbled into Rajasthan Motorsports's New Year Escape Jaisalmer event scheduled during 29-31 December 2022. After discussing with my family, I contacted Mr Madan Choudhary and booked for four of us.

I drew up an itinerary of 15 days and selected Bangalore>Pune>Ahmedabad>Jaisalmer for the up journey and Jaisalmer>Jodhpur>Chittorgarh>Vijayapura>Bangalore for the return journey, covering ~5,000 km for the entire trip. I was thrilled to do this trip as I could not do any mega drives in 2020, 2021 and 2022 due to Covid-19 outbreak.

We started at 3:30 am on the Christmas day [25/12/2022] from Bangalore home and arrived at Ganesh Hotel, before Hubli [383 km] by 8:10 am for breakfast. The roads were fantastic 6-lane all along. My Bangalore-Chennai drive takes 6 hours for 350 km. The Bangalore-Hubli stretch beats Bangalore-Chennai by wide margin [383 km in less than 5 hours]. Ganesh Hotel had ample parking space with good food and clean toilets.

I refuelled at BP Kottur 2 COCO pump after Hubli-Dharwad bypass. Again, I refuelled at BP COCO pump at Kognolli just before crossing into MH border as petrol price was cheaper in KA by ₹ 3 plus. Thereafter, I continued non-stop to my favourite eatery, Sai Food Court, Yelur, ~30 km after Kolhapur. I had food at this place in 2017, when I was returning from GJ by my erstwhile Royal Enfield Thunderbird 500. After this, we drove straight to Ginger Hotels, Wakad, Pune, checked in at 5:30 pm and called it a day. We ordered food from outside.

Again on the next day [26/12/2022], we checked out at 3:30 am as we wanted to cross the notorious traffic jam at Fountain Hotel junction before 7 am. But, my NaviMaps decided to give me some off-roading experience even before I reached Sam sand dunes. It was a nightmare in the night to cross Thane amidst army of trucks parked on one full carriageway. Without knowing that, I too stopped behind a truck. After a few minutes, my wife alerted me about people using the wrong side on the other opposite carriage way. After half-hour or so, I managed to take a U-turn, drive on the shoulder to reach the other carriage way. A couple of truck drivers co-operated by moving their trucks a few metres to give me space to reach the other side. Few more cars and LCVs followed me. Off-roading continued for many stretches while driving on the wrong side. Later, I came to know that trucks would be allowed to ply after 6 am and till then, they would be parked on the road, blocking the entire road. Phew, at last we came out of that dreaded stretch only to enter another terrible Bhiwandi SH to reach Shree Datta Snacks at Manor for breakfast.

After breakfasting, we continued our drive to GJ and refuelled at BP Luvara COCO pump, wherein my erstwhile Linea had petrol twice in the past. Petrol price was the lowest in GJ, competing with Pondicherry.

After lunching at Hotel Girnar, Vadodara, we entered Ahmedabad during peak hours and checked in at Fortune Landmark ITC at 6 pm and called it a day. We ordered food from outside as usual for dinner.

We visited Sabarmati Ashram on the next day [27/01/2022]. I visited this place in 2017 by my erstwhile Thunderbird 500. Here is the link:
https://www.facebook.com/ravi.jayavijayan/posts/1700109473349589

We left Ahmedabad on 28/12/2022 at 9 am and arrived at Hotel Fifu, Jaisalmer at 6:15 pm. We had visited Jaisalmer and stayed at the same hotel twice earlier. The next day, we visited the fort.

We arrived at Desert Glamping at Sam shortly after 4 pm.

More to come.

 

[J.Ravi]

THAR VISITS THAR

30 DECEMBER 2022, FRIDAY

This day was the red-lettered day for both me and my Raging Red Thar. On this day, we explored the Thar desert. We did sand dune-bashing and off-roading from morning to evening, first time for both of us [i.e., me and my Thar!].

After bellyful breakfast buffet, we drove deep into the Thar desert, far away from other tourists and motorists. Rajasthan Motorsports had taken prior permission from BSF for our exclusive drive. We were given walkie-talkie through which Mr Madan Choudhary of Rajasthan Motorsports gave instructions and guidance at regular intervals. Added to that, Rajasthan Motorsports made excellent arrangement in providing delicious, mouth-watering buffet lunch under a tree [oasis?].

Rajasthan Motorsports team took care of everything: communication, photography, food, support vehicle for rescue, and what-not. In one instance, when I was driving in 4L on a sharp bend slowly, my Thar got stuck. I tried in vain reversing, steering left and right, but nothing worked. Then, Mr Madan Choudhary and his team tried their best pushing, shaking, even that did not make my Thar come out. Finally, their rescue team winched out my Thar in few seconds! From then onwards, I drove in 4H, D-mode, maintaining momentum all along. I learnt the first lesson of off-roading in the Thar desert.

We returned to Desert Glamping for a well-earned superb buffet dinner. Yes, we were pampered with well-spread buffet of breakfast, lunch and dinner on all the days.

Now, let the pictures speak.

More to come.

 

[J.Ravi]

30 DECEMBER 2022, FRIDAY [Contd.]

31 DECEMBER 2022, SATURDAY

Another memorable day. On this day, we drove in convoy to Tanot India-Pakistan border and visited Longewala War Memorial on our way back.

The beautiful, scenic two-lane NH to Longewala and Tanot is part of Bharatmala Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharatmala . It was pleasure to drive on this excellent road. At Tanot, Rajasthan Motorsports arranged for our passes from BSF to visit the border. After visiting the border, we had late lunch. Rajasthan Motorsports arranged buffet at the road side. Later, we visited Longewala War Memorial https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Longewala . We returned to Desert Glamping in the night, just in time for the new year celebrations, comprising bon fire, fire works, DJ party, cake-cutting and grand dinner, which we all enjoyed in biting cold.

This was how we bade farewell to 2022 and welcomed 2023.

To be continued.

 

[J.Ravi]

THAR VISITS THAR

1 JANUARY 2023, SUNDAY

After a sumptuous breakfast, I made my Raging Red Thar ready for yet another drive to Jodhpur. I removed some stickers from the front and rear windshields, rear windows and loaded it with our luggage. We left Desert Glamping at 11:15 am, refueled at Jaisalmer and visited Jaisalmer War Museum enroute. After a couple of hours, we continued our drive to Jodhpur and arrived at our destination Mandore Guest House at 6:15 pm. We stayed at the very same place in 2010 during our earlier visit to Jodhpur. Details are here.

We had dinner at our guest house and enjoyed the bonfire. Next day [2 Jan 2023], we checked out after excellent buffet breakfast and visited Mehrangarh Fort.

More to come.

 

[J.Ravi]

2 JANUARY 2023 . MONDAY . JODHPUR, RJ

We explored Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur for about 3 hours. Afterwards, we drove straight to Umaid Bhawan Palace and spent half-hour in exploring it. Then, it was time for lunch. We visited Jodhpur Coffee House on a busy road and had snacks. Food was not good. To compensate that, we walked to the nearby Janta Sweet Home, where we tasted many sweets and savouries like Mawa Kachori, Pyaaz Kachori, Rabdi, Mirchi Vada and Makhaniya Lassi.

We left Jodhpur at 4:15 pm, drove non-stop to Chittorgarh. I had two navigators, offline NaviMaps and online Google Maps in my Thar. Google Maps misguided me several times and won't work when there was no network. So, as a backup, I had offline NaviMaps too. The road from Jodhpur to Beawar was excellent. At Beawar junction, NaviMaps asked me to take right and Google Maps guided me to the left. NaviMaps showed less distance than the Google Map's route. There were no signages at this important busy junction. Both were directly opposite to each other! But, the ETA was the same in both the cases. I made the blunder of selecting the route recommended by NaviMaps as it was shorter. Then, the nightmare in the night started for the next 100 and odd km. Half way through, we realized that NaviMaps showed the shorter route and Google Maps recommended a longer route, but ETA was the same in both the cases, which meant that the former route was terrible compared to the latter! There were umpteen number diversions due to work in progress. It took us through narrow village roads. Few enquiries confirmed that it was the correct route. So, we continued. Only earthmovers, trucks, JCBs gave company. The road was terrible. We had another night of off-roading! We drove through a place called Asind and finally reached Bhilwara bypass, where we got connected to the Delhi-Udaipur-Mumbai 6-lane expressway. From there, it was a beautiful 6 and 4-lane road all the way to Chittorgarh. We reached our hotel at 9:50 pm. We ate our well-earned dinner at the roof-top restaurant and called it a day.

More to come.

 

[J.Ravi]

Reels shared by Rajasthan Motorsports: 1 and 2

 

[J.Ravi]

THAR VISITS THAR

3 JANUARY 2023 . TUESDAY . CHITTORGARH, RJ

The first half day was the rest day after an excellent buffet breakfast. We drove to the Chittorgarh Fort in the afternoon and spent ~3 hours going around various places of interest inside the fort like Kumbha palace ruins, Jain temple, museum, vijaya stambha, etc. Finally, we watched the wonderful sound-and-light programme [ son et lumière] in shivering cold winter evening at the Kumbha palace ruins before returning to our hotel.
Me and wife visited this fort in 2019, while returning from our Ladakh trip. Details are here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chittor_Fort says:

The Chittorgarh (literally Chittor Fort), also known as Chittod Fort, is one of the largest forts in India. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The fort was the capital of Mewar and is located in the present-day city of Chittorgarh. It sprawls over a hill 180 m (590.6 ft) in height spread over an area of 280 ha (691.9 acres) above the plains of the valley drained by the Berach River. The fort covers 65 historic structures, which include four palaces, 19 large temples, 20 large water bodies, 4 memorials and a few victory towers.​

In 2013, at the 37th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Chittorgarh Fort, along with five other forts of Rajasthan, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as a group called the Hill Forts of Rajasthan.​

​

More to come.

 

[J.Ravi]

THAR VISITS THAR

4 JANUARY 2023 . WEDNESDAY . CHITTORGARH, RJ TO AURANGABAD, MH

After a satisfying buffet breakfast, we checked out of our hotel, refueled at BP Chittorgarh, where petrol was cheaper by ₹ 3 than that of Jaisalmer. The petrol price was similar to that of Jodhpur. When we left the petrol pump, the time was 9 am. For a change, both my NaviMaps and Goodle Maps agreed to show the same route and distance to my destination, Aurangabad, MH!

We stopped at Cube Stop food court near Dhamnod for lunch. The food was good. The toilets were clean.

The roads were excellent 4-lane ones until we reached Dhule. We had our quota of off-roading and bad road from Dhule to Chalisgaon to Kannad ghat [~80 km], that too in the night. Four laning road works were in progress in this section with plenty of truck traffic. There were many diversions and traffic jams. Even on the Kannad ghat road, there were traffic jams due to overloaded trucks getting stuck at the hairpin bends. Finally, we reached our hotel at Aurangabad, MH at 10:30 pm. We ordered food from the room service and retired for the day for well-earned rest.

5 JANUARY 2023 . THURSDAY . AURANGABAD, MH

We enjoyed a splendid buffet breakfast and took rest for half day. In the afternoon, we left for Ellora Caves and explored it for about 3 hours. Ellora Caves - Wikipedia

While returning to our hotel, we visited Bibi Ka Maqbara, aka Taj of Deccan. Bibi Ka Maqbara - Wikipedia

More to come.

 

[J.Ravi]

THAR VISITS THAR

6 JANUARY 2023 . FRIDAY . AURANGABAD, MH

Another day began with sumptuous and delicious buffet breakfast at our hotel, The Fern Residency, Aurangabad. Later, we left for Ajanta Caves. We spent about 3 hours exploring it and returned to our hotel. But for a few rough sections, most of the road was a good 4 lane one. While Ellora Caves were mainly of Jainism and historical sculptures, Ajanta Caves were mainly about Buddhism and paintings. Both Ajanta and Ellora Caves are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which should not be missed by anyone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajanta_Caves

7 JANUARY 2023 . SATURDAY . AURANGABAD, MH TO BANGALORE

The final day of our trip began with another excellent buffet breakfast; we packed, loaded Thar with our luggage, checked out at 9 am. Thar had its tankful of petrol at IOC Dakshata Petrol Pump, managed by Aurangabad District Rural Police Force. The staff wore khaki uniform. First time I came across a petrol pump managed by police force. Here is the location: https://goo.gl/maps/KLrThqEmYGMSQgAK7

Our homeward route comprised Beed, Osmanabad, Solapur, Vijayapura, Hosapete and Chitradurga. The road was beautiful all the way to Bangalore. We had to drive through Solapur, where we had tiffin at Kamat Hotel and vada-pav at the nearby Puneri Vada Pav and continued our drive to Vijayapura. En route, twice we were stopped by MH cops at toll plazas to check my driving licence and vehicle documents. After showing them, we were allowed to proceed.

We arrived at Gol Gumbaz, Vijayapura at 3 pm and spent half hour there. Climbing 7 steep flights of steps was, however, a task.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gol_Gumbaz

We continued our homeward drive. Road was good. Traffic was thin. We had dinner at Chitradurga bypass and continued our drive.

8 JANUARY 2023 . SUNDAY . BANGALORE

Raging Red Thar brought us home safely and comfortably at 1:30 am. Our Thar behaved fantastic throughout the trip. No breakdown. No accident. No damage. No puncture. No problem from cops/RTO. No challan.

The total distance covered in this trip was 5,018 km in 15 days. The actual fuel efficiency recorded was 9.61 km/litre of petrol for the entire trip including off-roading and sand dune-bashing, measured by tankful-tankful method.

I am thankful to all, who have liked, appreciated, commented and browsed this travelogue.

At last, this travelogue has ended!

 

[J.Ravi]

THAR VISITS THAR

Here are two clippings of our drive to Indo Pak border near Tanot, RJ by our Thar on 31/12/2022.

 

[J.Ravi]

THAR VISITS THAR

Here is a clipping of tough sand dune bashing we did on 30/12/2022, somewhere at Thar desert, RJ, where me and my Thar learnt the first lesson of off-roading and sand dune bashing.

 

[J.Ravi]

 

[GrandRk]

View attachment 307938

These are good and useful details

 

[J.Ravi]

THAR VISITS THAR

31 DECEMBER 2022 . BHARATMALA ROAD TO TANOT, RJ . THAR DESERT

Enjoyed driving my Thar on beautiful Bharatmala road to India - Pakistan border near Tanot, RJ

These are good and useful details

Thanks, @GrandRk .

 

[J.Ravi]

THAR VISITS THAR

30 DECEMBER 2022 . SOMEWHERE IN THAR DESERT, RJ

Got introduced to off-roading and sand dune-bashing at Thar Desert by Rajasthan Motorsports .