The way west – Evo India

In the second part of our Skoda2Sethu drive, the West team journeys through the South-West and in the process re-discovers Kerala

Words: Benjamin Gracias

Photography: Gaurav Thombre

Kerala: You love it, you hate it, and then you love it all over again. There’s no getting away from the incredible natural beauty, coconut trees swaying in the balmy breeze, spotlessly clean environs, incredible food (beef roast!) and gorgeous beaches that you’re even allowed to drive on. The people are also incredibly nice, except they seem to spend a lot of their time and energy blocking roads and waving red flags. Spending three hours by the side of the road because somebody is pissed off at something isn’t the best way to welcome people to ‘God’s own country’. And then taking three hours to cover 100kms while being passed by fully laden busses nudging triple digit speeds millimetres from your wing mirrors can frighten even the most battle-weary road warrior.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The heat

Stepping out of Ahmedabad airport, the first thing that hits you is the heat. Forty-eight degrees can cook your grey cells into a nice brain masala, you only need to add salt as per your taste. Our Yeti is waiting for us at Torque Automotive, Gujarat’s primary Skoda dealership with four major showrooms and service centres across the state. The Sarkhej facility is a four-storied complex that reflects the new customer-friendly look of Skoda’s worldwide dealer network and houses sales, finance and two whole floors dedicated to service. And to endure quick throughput there is an express bay system that can attend to 60 cars daily. We also check out the service cost calculator that removes all ambiguity on service charges and makes the whole process very transparent.

We hit the road by 5 in the evening whereupon Aniruddha decides he’d like to spend the night in his own bed. With 650km to go I settle into the rear seat of the Yeti and drift into dreamy land, the effective air-con sheltering us from the oppressive summer heat.
When I finally wake up we are at the border, the combination of Gujarat’s excellent highways and the Yeti’s high-speed cruising making it a quick, easy and stress-free drive. Food, fuel and a driver change and we are back on the road and just before dawn I get to bed, secretly thanking Aniruddha for getting me home.

Chorla, baby!

I hate myself for doing this. The Chorla Ghat is one of the nicer driving roads in these parts and because not many know about it there’s hardly any traffic. And now we’ve gone and written about it in back-to-back issues of evo India – which is bound to increase the volume of cars and bikes! Oh well…
Thanks to Aniruddha we had a nice rest day in Pune where the Yeti got a quick wash and check-up at Viraaj Skoda, the new dealership in the city. By 6 we were on the road the next day, the early hour meaning Maharashtra’s notorious tollbooth queues were yet to become unbearable. We get to Kolhapur for a late breakfast with Shabina Nadaf, the charming owner of Shrine Auto. Turns out her efficient team have such strong work ethics that, she says, customers come in from as far as Ratnagiri and Solapur to get their Skoda’s serviced. Must say it’s nice to hear positive things about Skoda’s ramped up service network.

Pleasantries exchanged we put pedal to metal and make haste over Karnataka’s brilliant highway all the way to Belgaum (or Belagavi as it is now known). Our Yeti is the two-wheel-drive variant that gets the 108bhp 2.0-litre diesel engine that is good for 0-100kmph in 12-odd seconds. Since we are going to be restricting ourselves to highways we figured why not trade the 4×4’s off-road-ability for better fuel efficiency and range in the 4×2 version – a wise decision considering we now have a nearly 850km range on a full tank of diesel.

Chorla Ghat is a refreshing change after the arrow straight highways of the past two days and the Yeti tackles these corners and hairpins with aplomb. Who says an SUV can’t handle? It’s so good – car and road! – that all three of us fight over driving duties, even Gaurav who is supposed to be taking pictures!
In Goa, with time to spare, we visit Priority Automobiles in Panjim – turns out Skoda’s network is now so well spread that we have a service centre to get our Yeti washed and checked up every night (not that it needs it!). A relaxed chat with Parind, the young owner of Priority Automobiles, reveals that locals prefer the Yeti for the simple fact that it is compact enough to tackle narrow Goan alleyways while the ground clearance makes getting on and off the ferry a painless endeavour. Unique requirements of different parts of our country!

Red flags and road blocks

The NH17 that goes South from Goa and into Karnataka is a fantastically scenic route, if a bit slower than the four-lane highways on the Golden Quadrilateral. It is not the best of roads either with road works going on all over but the Yeti’s brilliant suspension soaks it all up without protest. Karwar is a naval base and the road skirts past gorgeous beaches and then, near Udipi, there is a lovely stretch that runs right by the shore. One would be mad not to stop and stare, and have a tender coconut or two. We get to Mangalore, Aniruddha’s hometown, by lunchtime and while he doesn’t insist on visiting his relatives (thank god!) he does insist we sample Mangalore’s seafood (praise the lord!).
One of the things about road trips is you learn far too many things about your fellow road trippers, like a weird passion for Sunny Leone. Difficult to know whether it is for her pre- or post-Bollywood work but the number of times they played that ‘paani’ song has me convinced Aniruddha and Gaurav are co-founders of the Sunny Leone fan club.

While ‘hot summer upar se main bhi hot; aaja saath laga le mere 2 tequila shot; and just do that, do that, do that paani wala dance’ blared over the (rather good) stereo some other verses were blaring out over speakers set up on the road. Welcome to Kerala! Don’t ask me what their beef was but I hope it was bloody important for we were stranded for over three hours and our plans of driving all the way to Kozhikode disappeared in the sea of red flags.
While we were waiting for the political rally to clear we also got our first glimpse of some crazy Malayali driving. An ambulance, sirens wailing and driven at full chat, went charging past us with just an inch to spare and through the crowds that parted like all those pictures you see of Group B rally cars charging through a sea of spectators. I kid you not. And as night falls we meet Kerala’s predators. Imagine travelling at 90kmph when lights flash behind you demanding to overtake. Colourful, with an array of lights blinding you, Kerala’s busses rule the roads and are notorious for being driven on and over the limit. Fernando Alonso once said the fastest driver in the world is a bus driver in Spain who does not know it. You’re wrong Alonso. Come to Kerala!

Where is the highway?

Progress is Kerala is slow. Very slow. We had planned to drive to Kozhikode but all the delays meant we were way behind schedule. Luckily for us the editor’s hometown is in Cherukunnu, quite close to Kannur, and his aunt was only too happy to welcome us home and feed our faces with a lovely home cooked meal.
We should have taken it easy though as the heavy dinner put paid to our early morning departure plans and by the time we hit the road we also hit traffic. And, my god, Kerala’s traffic is something else.

It is just 100 km between Kannur and Kozhikode but takes over three hours. The roads are well surfaced but NH17 is besieged by village after village therefore average speed drops down to 30kmph. What it does allow is time to look around and soak in the lush splendour of one of India’s most beautiful states.
En route we give the Yeti a quick check-up at Pinnacle Skoda in Chettikkulam in Kozhikode. A new venture, the service centre is set up for all types of quick repair including a full-fledged body shop and paint booth. With the way bus drivers drive in Kerala I’m sure the body shop will do roaring business! We also learn that Skoda’s new spares warehouses in Gurgaon and Bangalore (in addition to the main hub in Aurangabad) has significantly reduced the lead time for dealers to procure spares and that’s what has led to the quick turnaround time for repair jobs at all dealerships.
Luckily our Yeti is spotless and the check-up takes barely a few minutes after which we are on our way. Except we decide to give Google Maps a miss and try our own navigational skills. The very first turn takes us to a dead end, a backwater with a lone boatman ferrying people across. We decide to trade the Yeti’s comfortable interiors for the wooden plank that passes off as seats in the small boat.
A relaxing ride into the sunset ensues as the boatman takes across. Getting lost also has its perks.

Relax says Team East

We are not the only one’s on the road. This is the second part of the Skoda to Sethu mega-drive; our colleagues Dipayan, Ken and Vikrant have already driven from Delhi to Kolkata in a Rapid and are now driving down the East coast to meet us at the Ram Sethu. A quick call to Team East reveals we are before time so we decide to break journey and explore the backwaters of Kozhikode. Narrow paths, mud tracks – not a problem for the Yeti. I decide to try my hand at fishing and realise I am no good. We also visit the beach road which runs along the Arabian Sea with a promenade lined with interesting stone sculptures. The Fort area has its own set of old world charms and you must visit the Kashi Cafe that has fantastic filter coffee and chocolate cake.

The next day, we set off for Thiruvanathapuram to pay a visit to Marikar Engineers – the southernmost dealership of Skoda Auto India and amongst the most impressive. I kid you not when I say the quality of Skoda’s dealerships is way above what we expected when we set off on this drive. While the Yeti was ushured in for a quick TLC we were treated to a traditional Malayali welcome followed by a free lesson in history and geography. You see, in school, I was told that Kanyakumari is the Southermost tip of India, and so I only naturally assumed the Ram Sethu is in Kanyakumari. Our friends at Marikar assured us that this is not the case and the Ram Sethu is at Dhanushkodi some 350km away from Kanyakumari and 400km away from our present location. A substantial wager between Dipayan and myself as to which team would reach first meant that it was now a race against time to get to the Ram Setu.
More next month!