[Dr.AD]

Morning on a Lake

Some of us, part of the group that recently did a crazy monsoon fury drive in BMWs , decided to take out our "other cars", our SUVs, for a casual morning drive to a nearby lake. It was a bit of a funny experience to meet my usual BMW group buddies with their SUVs, and driving these slow body-on-frame SUVs with the same guys whom I have always seen driving their BMWs. Jokes apart, we enjoy all kinds of vehicles and all kinds of drives, and driving these SUVs on that scenic terrain was a totally enjoyable experience too.

The group included @robimahanta(Thar Petrol 4x4), @PrideRed (Fortuner 4x4), @HighRevving (Thar Petrol 4x4), @jfk1975 (Toyota Hilux), and @MonkOnWheels (XUV700 AWD), and myself (Thar Petrol 4x4).

The whole drive was planned by @robimahanta. Thanks to him for such a nice plan!

Since it was a just a short drive, there is nothing much to write about it. I was primarily interested in photographing the beautiful SUVs on that lake, and thankfully, I got plenty of opportunities to take photos. It was a bit too dark and gloomy there that morning, and the light was less than ideal for car photography. However, I manged to get a few shots anyways, though they are a bit dark, as expected.

Please allow me to share the photos I took of the SUVS on that lake.

@PrideRed's Fortuner:



The amazing red Hilux of @jfk1975:







One more shot of the Fortuner:



Could not resist clicking many photos of this red Hilux:



@MonkOnWheels's XUV700:



My Thar parked on the lakeside terrain:



Another view of my Thar:



@HighRevving's Thar:



The Red Hilux looked stunning wherever it moved:



The Fortuner looked majestic as well, and looked totally at home on such terrain:



Robi's "Aquamarine Blue" Thar:



@HighRevving's "Galaxy Grey" Thar:



My "Napoli Black" Thar (three shades of Thar on view on the side of the lake):



MonkOnWheels's XUV700:



Meanwhile, a photo of the two amazing Toyota 4x4s, which looked so at home there that it looked like they owned the lake:



And the four Mahindras posing on the other side of the lake:



Another view of Robi's Thar:



A closer look at the "Galaxy Grey" Thar of @HighRevving:



Back to the Hilux:



And the Fortuner:



The two Toyota 4x4s together again:



Another view of my Thar:



The four Mahindras on the side of the picturesque lake:



A parting shot of the majestic Hilux:



And finally, as we exited that area through a lovely mud trail, going through thick tress, I could not resist clicking this shot from my windshield, of the convoy in front of me:

[Dr.AD]

Breakfast and the Return

After the lakeside photoshoot and trail drive, we started driving around a bit aimlessly and randomly, albeit now on tarmac.

The Thars on the side of a scenic road through the forests:



The might Hilux making Thar look like a toy car:



We were super hungry by now, and in one of the villages, we found a tiny place serving something fresh and hot:


We parked on the side of the road, and went there to eat whatever they were cooking.

And there they served us the most delicious fresh hot "paniyaram" served straight from the cooking pot to our plates:


That breakfast, at an unexpected place in the middle of the forest drive, was so amazing that it became one of the highlights of the trip for us.

After that breakfast, we returned home through some scenic forest sections. And here, my favorite Murphy's Law hit us again. Quoting myself from another thread:

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

On a lighter note, Murphy's Law has been toying with me ever since I got my Thar. Whenever I took Thar on a long drive expecting rain and bad roads, I got clear weather and good roads, and whenever I took my 320d expecting a good drive, I got torrential rains and waterlogged streets everywhere.

Last time when the same group took their BMWs out on a long drive, we faced non-stop torrential rains and flooded streets. And now when we took our SUVs out, we got beautiful sunny weather, smooth tarmac, and scenic corners where our sedans would have had a blast!

Smooth and scenic roads:



Perfect corners where we missed our sedans:



Parting shot of the body-on-frame SUVs on a lovely corner where a sedan would have had a blast:



That is all from this casual, short drive. I hope my buddies add their own photos and drone shots below. @HighRevving has taken some amazing drone shots and looking forward to his posts below.

Thank you very much for reading!

[KarthikK]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[NPV]

Nice photographs as always, Dr.AD!, thanks for sharing!

Which is this nearby lake ?

[HighRevving]

Thank you Dr. AD, as usual you are the best storyteller and we are honoured to have you start the thread with such a good post, as always . In fact, so good that we do not see the need to elaborate anymore. I will jump straight into the pictures that I have taken.

From my phone camera:

My humble 4x4 Thar:


My Thar again:


jfk's Hilux:


Random shots:




Some images from the drone:

[PrideRed]

Thanks AD for the post and Robi for planning nice drive. Couple of pictures I took.

The mammoth



Half dose tasted good too!

[MonkOnWheels]

Thank you Dr. AD for the good writeup of the drive and Robi for planning this.

Few pics from my mobile camera:

[sudev]

Lovely pictures. Red looks stunning.

Looks like all of you kept your treads clean. Would have loved some slush splash pictures.

[pkulkarni.2106]

Wow, what a spot! I could sit there all day long without getting bored. Amazing pics!

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Perfect corners where we missed our sedans:

[sharmanova]

Lovely pictures @Dr.AD. Who said SUV's aren't photogenic? I am drooling over the Red Hilux

[dass]

Lovely pictures. Can you mention the location as well?

[Asoon]

Amazing place, insane pictures
Location / Lake Name Please

[vredesbyrd]

Very nice photos.

The roads look delicious. Oh what would I give to wring the neck of my Scorpio or Vento on those precise lines.

Roads around Lucknow suck.

[Dr.AD]

Thank you very much everyone for your comments and kind words of appreciation!

Originally Posted by sudev

Lovely pictures. Red looks stunning.

Thank you sudev. Yes the Red Hilux indeed looks stunning, and clearly has a persona that no other SUV can match!

Looks like all of you kept your treads clean. Would have loved some slush splash pictures.

We did not go in the slush, but not that the vehicles were very clean either. My car, for example, was quite dirty from another trip I had done recently. However, somehow the camera does not show the dust and the dirt. In the photographs the cars look much cleaner than they were in reality.

Originally Posted by sharmanova

Lovely pictures @Dr.AD. Who said SUV's aren't photogenic? I am drooling over the Red Hilux

Thank you! Yes indeed the SUVs are photogenic. And that Red Hilux was the most photogenic of them all. I was waiting for an opportunity to photograph that car in a natural setting, and I am glad I got that opportunity in this drive.

Originally Posted by vredesbyrd

Very nice photos.

The roads look delicious. Oh what would I give to wring the neck of my Scorpio or Vento on those precise lines.

Roads around Lucknow suck.

Thank you! Yes the roads around this area are quite nice. I love the rural single-lane or two-lane roads in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. These roads are fantastic with smooth surface, scenic landscapes and hills around, and big trees on both sides. Driving on these rural forest roads, even for just a couple of hours, is a nice therapeutic experience!

Thanks again everyone!

[Asoon]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Thank you very much everyone for your comments and kind words of appreciation!

Dr.AD, please let us know the location as well, as lot of us (Bangaloreans) want to explore. Is this near Chengam / Tiruvannamalai on the route to Pondicherry from Bangalore ? would be great if you can share name of the lake
Thanks