AD There is no better way to start a new year, than with a road trip, and I was fortunate to be invited for the 2021 Mahindra Royal Escape. For those who don’t know what Royal Escape is, in essence, it is a multi-day adventure across Rajasthan in the new
Mahindra cars – in my case the all-new Mahindra Thar – put together by the team at For me personally, this trip was going to tick many firsts, first time off-roading on sand, first time driving the new Thar and to top it all, my first media drive. Suffices to say, I was eagerly waiting to get behind the wheel of the Thar and get this trip underway.
It’s day 1 and we’ll be heading from Udaipur to Jodhpur, covering a distance of around 350km. A quick flag-off and socially distanced photoshoot later, it was time for me to experience Mahindra s off roader for the first time! I needed some getting used to. I was driving the diesel-automatic with the hardtop which had pretty sharp brakes. Gauging its width was also an initial problem but after 10 minutes, I was confident enough.
Our first stop was at Shikarbadi fort, a former hunting resort of the Royal family of Mewar. The property is huge and houses its own stable, a football field and a mini air strip capable of landing small six-seater planes! It’s now converted into a 3-star hotel after the Zamindari act came into place in 1971.