[14000rpm]

Originally Posted by karthikd21

So, it was Nagaland

What a terrific trip. Kudos to the meticulous planning.
Amazing thread !

Originally Posted by Bibendum90949

I'm super glad and lucky to have been part of this once in a life time expedition, even more so it was to NL which isn't an easy place to get access too. This is the best i've ever done in terms of marathon driving and the adventure that came with it.

I had been seeing your travel via your WA status messages. It was one hell of a drive you've had. You should add your part of the trip reaching NL too.

[karthikd21]

Adding a link to a video compilation

https://youtu.be/PALmvUUCDVM

[airguitar]

I was one of the participants on the fabulous Nagaland expedition and will attempt to followup on Karthik’s terrific act on this travelogue. For those that have seen Kurosawa’s Rashomon or read the story “In a Grove” by Akutagawa on which the movie is based or the much later “Virumandi” in Tamil, this is “my version” of the story . I will take care not to repeat the details that Karthik already has provided.

The Machine

The first version of the Mahindra Thar seen on the roads had me fall for it in 2010. However, in its then shape, it was a no-starter for my family.
In 2016, I had pinned my hopes on buying a Duster AWD, but due to a lackadaisical approach from the sales team, I couldn’t move ahead. Plus, there were people that had a Duster telling me not to go for it due to injector issues. I bought a Creta instead and it was a good purchase. However, the disappointment of not owning a more capable vehicle that would do better on different terrain remained.

Cut to 2020, an enthusiast friend bought his CT All New Thar (he got his in Oct 2020). I had seen the announcement and had liked it quite a bit. But I continued to remain a fence-sitter. I got extended test-drives on his A.N.T and I was more than convinced that I would be able to do long distances on it, despite its quirky settings (a not so comfortable seat, less than optimal under-thigh support, the center console area fouling with the left knee). But overall, I couldn’t make the decision immediatetely. Then I did this thread on TBHP : https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/suvs-...nsmission.html (Want to buy a 4x4 SUV with manual transmission) : and increasingly it became clear that for the price point that the Thar came at, it provided a lot of value. Special thanks to @cooldube for getting me over the line on this decision. Finally, after much dilly-dallying the Thar was booked. The decision in the family was fully based on the fact that we will not sell the Creta. They didn’t care beyond that point as to what we bought, as long as the Creta stayed. The kids, however, were very excited and waited with the same excitement levels each day of the 6 months.

There are a few things that you do for yourself, and the A.N.T is definitely one of those things for me. With each passing day, I have really been happy about a decision well-taken. It took a while to get used to it in the city, what with two wheelers cutting across at the last minute in front of you etc and the BoF beast won’t break like a hatch or a monocoque crossover. But I promised myself that I would take the thar to work every single day for the first 3 months. Otherwise, I feared that I might switch back to the Creta for regular use, leading to the Thar being used less and less. During those office drives, Ecosense would show 30 clutch press / kilometer etc, depressing stats daily driving those 14 kms to ORR from Whitefield. But after a few days, I got used to the vehicles pretty well. On the highways it did a pretty good job anyway with no fatigue etc.

Arka underbody protection, A pillar-mounted ditch lamps, upgraded fogs and an upgrade of the headlamp to 100/90 setup were the only changes I did to the vehicle, with inputs from tbhpian @soumobakshi. The only other mod I have is removing the rear seat altogether.

Some pictures of my ride




A run up the easy Mandalapatti trail soon after the purchase. Doesn't even need 4x4

https://youtu.be/WjCZpJ7DndA?feature=shared

The Communities
One of the most important things about Mahindra vehicles is the ecosystem. Well-organized Adventure community, state-of-the-art proving track, good support from the service teams and senior folks on all matter vehicle-related is a huge thing. Brings people together in a big way and reinforces trust and confidence that you are in the right setup to get the maximum out of your vehicle.

Our visit to the MSPT at Cheyyar is documented by @nerd1200 & @ROG_AK pretty well here : https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-e...-track-tn.html (Back to the fundamentals | 4XPloring at Mahindra SUV Proving Track, TN).

Other than the Mahindra Adventure/4x4 CoE folks, I would like to call out my favorite offroading community “Thar Bengaluru” which has had the most influence on me. It got me acquainted with the practical aspects of offroading and as you see in the rest of the post, is the group that organized the Nagaland expedition which is the focal point of this travelogue.

Thar Bengaluru
Founded by Mr. Vasthav and ably supported by a number of stalwarts, it is the group you should be in, if you have a thar and if you really like building and honing your offroading skills in Bengaluru. With a subscription of about 400 people, it’s a fantastic group to be part of for weekend trails, overnight events and the much-anticipated annual expeditions – all of which are conducted in a highly professional manner with dedicated recce teams, support and logistics. Quite a few tbhpians like @tilt, @soumobakshi, @bibendum90949, @karthikd21 are active members on the group. The camaraderie and bonding seen in the group is among the best I have experienced. You will get to see some of the best offroaders, many of them regulars on competitions and events and winners at that on most of the prestigious events. Compared to the amount of talent in this community, I'm just a newbie, focused on learning from the pros.

My journey with the group started with a trail to Chandramandalam. Just that one trail taught me much more than I could have learnt by myself in weeks. In many ways, it was baptism by fire for me. It showed me the importance of understanding your vehicle’s features, abilities and limitations, your own abilities and limitations, the need for patience and perseverance and basic grasp of physics : CoG & Friction.

My thar at the end of the Chandramandalam Trail


Basics were honed under the tutelage of the experts on the trail – what rpm to maintain, what gears to use, what 4x4 modes to use when etc. As my friend and the vastly experienced bhpian @tilt says, “2000 rpm is your friend” – throttle control was an important lesson. He could also very well write a thesis on “sliding into a turn and sliding away from a turn” – an important lesson on slush handling for newbies.

A wise man from the group once said, "Breaking your thar's bumper is like losing your virginity. Things become easier once you break it". And so I did on my first trail:



It's also interesting to note that even in your 40s, you can make new friends by way of simple common interests and passions. Who would think that an inanimate object like an SUV will bring people together.

So, when Thar Bengaluru started planning for the annual expedition, I put my hand up, despite having nary a clue about where we were headed. All I wanted to do was be part of the gang and learn from them. As @karthikd21 mentioned, at some point it became a toss-up between Arunachal and Nagaland. The final choice was Nagaland, based on the amount of unexplored terrain it offered. Some of us decided to drive all the way from Bengaluru while some others, short on time due to work and personal reasons, decided to put their vehicles in a truck to Guwahati.

The Planning
4 thars were part of our party that started making plans an additional trip before the Nagaland leg began. We started with a plan to do North Bengal and Sikkim which over a few days morphed into a plan for Tawang. The plan was to cover Bangalore to Tawang in 5 days, spend about 4-5 days in Tawang and get to Nagaland in time for the actual start of the expedition. Fellow bhpians and friends @bibendum90949 and @logan2007 were partners in crime for the drive to Nagaland.

I did the route-planning for our party of 4 thars for the pre-Nagaland days with crucial inputs from @robimahanta, @nerd1200 and @soumobakshi. Thank you so much guys! To keep variables to a minimum, we decided to stick to the Eastern Coastal route, that many of us were already familiar with.
The D day was Dec 14, 2023 and @bibendum90949 would leave Kochi a day before, i.e. the 13th. @logan2007 would take a flight to Siliguri and join me 4 days later due to some office commitments. Which meant that I had to do the first 4 days solo, which in retrospect wasn’t all that difficult!

Bangalore – Bezawada – Bhubaneshwar – Durgapur/Asansol – Siliguri – Manas – Udalguri – Bomdilla – Tawang – Bumla/Sangetsar/Chumig Gyatser/Zemithang – Dirang – Tezpur – Kaziranga – Guwahati – Dimapur was the expected itinerary before the Nagaland leg.

Dimapur – Wokha – Mokokchung – Mon – Longwa – Tuanseng – Zunheboto – Kohima – Khonoma - Tuophema – Kapamodzu – Benreu – Dimapur was going to be the Nagaland leg.

Some of the folks preferred to keep the daily drive to about 600-650 kms and that formed one of the basis of the itinerary. As the trip unraveled, many of us understood how we underestimate ourselves – many of the days we completed the 600 kms quota much earlier and felt that we should have included atleast 200 kms more each day.

The purchases
A long list of items to be purchased for the 24 day trip was drafted. Snowchains, Camping gas stove, tents, inflatable mattresses and warm clothes, a 75-point pre-expedition check facilitated by Mahindra, a wheel-balancing/alignment exercise at Madhus, last minute fixtures at Maddog, Autostyle etc were the focus areas.

To be continued..

[BlackBeard]

Originally Posted by karthikd21

"I have found a new passion to work the whole year to earn a well deserved reward in the form of an yearly group expedition!" This has been the mantra of our group Thar-Bengaluru since the time we started the "Yearly Expedition" concept 2 years ago.

Nice "mantra" I must say. Where to next?

Congratulations on the successful trip to you and all participants and
thank you for the wonderful photographs and narration.

Originally Posted by airguitar

To be continued..

Still waiting...

[airguitar]

Originally Posted by BlackBeard

Still waiting...

Honestly the lukewarm responses to karthikd21's posts and mine didn't feel quite motivating for me to continue

[BlackBeard]

I know its de-motivating to continue especially when there is less/no feedback forthcoming from the intended audience.

However, there still is audience for these elaborate and extensive travelogues.
So please do continue and complete it.

[GeneralJazz]

Originally Posted by karthikd21

"I have found a new passion to work the whole year to earn a well deserved reward in the form of an yearly group expedition!" This has been the mantra of our group Thar-Bengaluru since the time we started the "Yearly Expedition" concept 2 years ago.

Woah! Just... woah! I had kept this thread bookmarked for some time now, and only recently got to reading it. What an incredible journey. Spectacular pics and brilliant narration! From your words alone I can understand that you enjoyed every km of the drive!

One amazing thing that caught my eye was how diverse our country is. Its truly a mini continent, a sub-continent!

I have a trip to the himalayas coming up soon, and your pics has gotten me all worked up again!

Originally Posted by airguitar

The Machine

What an incredible machine to have soaked up all that abuse! Even though I belong to the ever dwindling tribe who prefers a low slung sedan over an SUV, I could really feel the emotions expressed towards these 4x4 beauties!

Keep off-roading! (and leave the roads to us sedanists! )

[karthikd21]

Originally Posted by BlackBeard

Nice "mantra" I must say. Where to next?

Wait and watch! A new epic expedition is being planned for Nov

[karthikd21]

Originally Posted by GeneralJazz

One amazing thing that caught my eye was how diverse our country is. Its truly a mini continent, a sub-continent!

You bet! I changed my entire Garage with newer cars to suit the purpose and have mission to Travel The length and Breadth of India before exploring any external destinations

[Kkumar]

Vow, looks like you had an expedition of the lifetime. Its nice to have family to be together in such expeditions as it increases the bonding and the kids will also learn a lot about new places and culture apart from finding joy in the difficulties during an adventure. Hats off to the team and the organisers. Keep on munching miles.

[airguitar]

Originally Posted by BlackBeard

I know its de-motivating to continue especially when there is less/no feedback forthcoming from the intended audience.

However, there still is audience for these elaborate and extensive travelogues.
So please do continue and complete it.

Thanks for the encouragement. I promise to writeup the missing parts very soon.