Hyundai Great India Drive PART 1: We took the Venue from Vadodra to Pokhran

India is one hell of a colourful place and there is no denying that. Go in any direction and it’s a total contrast to the other end giving us a really rich heritage.

The consequence of this is that every road trip you take in any direction is well a colourful experience. It should then come as no surprise that this mighty drive with Hyundai was flagged off under the massive gaze of the man that wove this tapestry together. 

Sardar Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel was the man that put together the image of modern India that we know of today. His efforts saw the integration of over 500 princely states across the country including Hyderabad and Kashmir. Not an easy task when you had to consider that each of these states had a ruler that held a near-mythical power among its citizens. 

The statue of Unity sits mighty on the banks of the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Clocking in at world record-breaking 597 feet and built by Marathi Sculptor Ram V Suttar, its silhouette is visible for almost 10kms and provides a rather impressive point of reference when driving to the complex.

We Googled various images of the Great man and were amazed at the level of detail that had been put into the process and wouldn’t be surprised if his fingerprints had been secretly integrated into the hands. 

So impressive was the gaze of the statue that it took quite a bit of cajoling from Hyundai to gather the Venues to have the flag off and well…leave the venue for our respective destinations. 

When you are younger, a highway journey across three states and over 3000kms is like a rather fast and blurry long-distance marathon. You just want to drive till you furiously rub your tired eyes at night, look at the odo and exclaim “never again” only to repeat the process all over the next day. 

However, with age comes responsibility and an urge to go everywhere at a sane speed while taking in the sights and sounds just a little bit more. Our first day saw us just inch over the 350km mark but it was rather a colourful drive interspersed with good highways, bad highways and what could optimistically be described as forged pathways in the dirt. 

Club this with troves of stray bovines, misspelt roads signs (No U-trun, Shout-Indian food, weight for saide) and the constant voice of our camera crews directing us for various shots…makes for one hell of a day doesn’t it?

And then there were Theplas! Oh, how could we forget those lifesavers? At our first food halt and once we had dug in after many hours of driving, we truly understood why it was such a popular item for vegetarian Indians to carry abroad on their European or American tours.

 Every place we stopped for a bite in Gujrat served fresh Theplas made right in front of us and we could see the glee (of sorts) in the eyes of restaurant employees as we kept eating plate after plate well into the double-digit mark. 

Our unrelenting pace hardly phased the Venue though. We were driving the 1.4-litre diesel with a six-speed manual and I could best describe this a yummy combination (Team bhi khush, wallet bhi khush). No matter what we experienced, the real-time fuel consumption gauge refused to show a number less than 19.4kmpl. 

With its futuristic looks, low set headlamps and “Great India Drive” stickers pasted on the sides, the Venue turned heads repeatedly and this set the stage for what we could expect in the sparseness rural Rajasthan. 

Sometimes significant actions are necessary to put a point across and our destination for the day was one of the most significant actions in the history of modern India.

The renewed attention on Pokhran and its surrounding areas came back into fore in 2018 thanks to the John Abraham starrer- Parmanu. Our actions put India on the global map (once again) and well there was no turning back after that. Once the impact of where we were going had set in, the impact of how much we had to drive from our night halt to reach our destination also set in just as strongly. 

We set off pre-dawn on day two with a clear aim to reach Pokhran. It was lengthy drive with much to shoot, imbibe and of course eat!

Making up the kilometres in the early hours before civilization stirred, we drove fast intending to reach the Gujrat-Rajasthan border. As the licence plates shifted from GJ to RJ, the roads started to get a bit narrower and the landscape more dusty and desert-like. 

After stopping for some breakfast which included pakodas made from Bajra (there’s always a first for everything). We made the long haul towards the desert and then to Pokhran. 

The army is everywhere. That was our first reaction as we moved closer to the nuclear testing site and the border areas. One of the advantages of having the armed forces in these kinds of numbers is that the roads are incredible. 

When you have to move the significant number of personal, tanks, trucks and even artillery guns and mostly always in a hurry, the roads need to be perfect. 

After so many kilometres, it suddenly seemed like the invisible forces wanted us to remember the final 100km sprint to the nuclear test site. We quickly peeled off the distance and felt growing excitement as we got closer to the test site.

However, as the dreamy voice of the GPS lady informed us that we had reached our destination, our progress was instantly stopped!

Turns out, this is a restricted area and after some enquiry with the army personal manning the gate, we discovered that we were still 11km away from the test site and even they were not allowed to visit the site. 

We looked around a bit dejected but having come so far and with the Venue looking ready for the camera, we decided to park it, pose with it and push on to our next destination- Jaisalmer!

We had clocked in an impressive 1000km in just a day and a half and the Venue did not lose a step along the way. In the dry 36°c heat of the desert, the climate control system kept us cool while the inbuilt air purifier made our breathing just a bit easier. The odo still refused to sink below the 19.4kmpl mark impressing us even more. 

In PART-2 of Great, India drive with the Hyundai Venue, we take in the sights and sounds of Jaisalmer town and make a little trip into the desert to visit the Sam Sand Dunes.

Photos: Kaustubh Gandhi

Words: Venkat Desirazu