Highway Star

Driving and stress are synonymous, that's the universal foregone conclusion. Sheldon Santwan, editor of feBusiness Traveller, attempts to disprove this theory as he takes off on the ultimate dream drive in a Mercedes Benz E 200 Kompressor and finds out that there can be no greater stress buster than the combination of a fantastic car and the great outdoors. Throw in the magical effect of the monsoon and you have the perfect package for the stressed city bumpkin…

Simply Stunning! are the only words that come to mind to describe an experience like this. With eyes fixed on the road ahead, savouring every moment of this adrenaline rush, I gently depress the accelerator a wee bit more. Out of nowhere, the 1,796 cc engine with 158 bhp of raw power seems to find renewed vigour as the Mercedes Benz lurches forward, belying the pick up of an automatic transmission, the speedometer needle now moving over the 160 kmph mark as we pass other A Class luxury cars with ease and watch them fade into oblivion on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

I am no automobile connoisseur but I am passionate about driving and know a good car when I see one. This one however is a sheer driver's delight and I can hardly contain my pleasure as I sit behind the wheel. The broad grin on my face says it all as Achal Dhruva, on the seat beside me, flashes me a "I told you so" look. My mind conjures up images from that Hindi blockbuster 'Dil Chahta Hai' - a scene I vividly remember because of my penchant for good cars - and I start to draw parallels with our situation. Well, Aamir Khan, Akshaye Khanna and Saif Ali Khan may marginally beat us on the good looks, but we drive a Merc too and on a far more exotic route than the Mumbai-Goa drive they do in the movie. I'm sure that none of this is making any sense just yet, so let me recap before I get carried away any further.

I'm just the average Mumbai man, who commutes to the office everyday the hard way. No, not by train but by road, and worse still, I drive myself and have contemplated suicide more than once while negotiating the city's serpentine traffic, which makes patience seem no more a virtue but sheer divine intervention. On roads that NASA could easily use as a simulator to train their astronauts for the Moon Walk (no offence to Michael Jackson here), driving in Mumbai, or for that matter any other major city in India, is just sheer stress.

Imagine my plight then when Achal Dhruva, our chief features writer, informs me that Mercedes Benz has offered to give us a car for the special feature that I had planned, titled the 'Dream Drive' but only on condition that I did the drive. I had veritably shot myself in the foot (or so I thought)… me and my wise ideas! Given the city drives that are an intrinsic and eminently forgettable part of my daily life and the fact that Achal had charted out a three-day drive fiesta that totalled approximately 1,600 kms in less than 72 hours, I must admit that I was more than a little apprehensive about the trip, while a part of me was very tempted by the car on offer.

I'm glad I took what I then thought was a brave decision to go ahead with the drive because from the moment I got behind the wheel of the Mercedes Benz E-200 Kompressor (Elegance) and felt the engine kick into life for the first time, I knew that I was in for an unforgettable road experience.

It was 11.30 a.m. on a Sunday morning when we took off from Andheri, in suburban Mumbai, en route to our first destination Dandeli in Karnataka, 587 kms away. Even before we could leave the city, I started to realise that there was a method to this madness, this car was something else and the Mumbai roads were not so bad after all. The multi-link suspension, with air springs, stabilisers and what have you, negotiated the lunar-like surface with ease. I was now gaining in confidence at the wheel and put the car to the speed test as we zoomed along the Mumbai-Pune expressway en route to Satara and Kolhapur.

I warmed to my task with obvious enjoyment and tested out the five-speed automatic transmission for optimum performance. I must confess that there were several times when I had to control the urge to overspeed and had to actually rein in the car as the 1.8 litre, 4 cylinder engine threatened to break free. Now I understood what 158 bhp at 5,500 rpm translated into in terms of sheer power and performance. The undiluted joy of piloting a machine like this was unmistakable and as obvious as a child trying out his brand new toy. Manish, the Mercedes Benz driver/technician (the third person in our trio), looked on in amused silence, not wanting to break into my reverie.

As the silver grey Mercedes streaked towards Satara, I had the chance to witness its prowess on the Katraj Ghat and the Khambataki Ghat, just short of Satara. With subtle shifts to second and third gear in the five-speed auto transmission, the car climbed with ease, negotiating hairpin bends and zigzag curves with the panache and stability that could sometimes lead to overconfidence. Dusk fell as we approached Kolhapur and proceeded on to Belgaum where we made a quick fuel halt to top up the 80-litre fuel tank. The car had clocked a very decent highway average of 12 kms per litre.

Having crossed the threshold of Karnataka, we now moved off the Mumbai-Bangalore highway to Khanapur, Londha and on to Ganeshguddi in pitch darkness on country roads and pouring rain. But even in hazardous conditions, not once did I feel a tinge of apprehension, always in control with the superior steering, stupendous braking power and headlights with fog lamps that made night driving seem like the easiest thing in the world. More importantly, I had covered the distance of 587 kms in one stretch to the Bison River Resort in Dandeli with no signs of any driving fatigue!

Having reached the resort after 10.30 p.m., we plunged right into a great dinner and settled down for the night in anticipation of an early morning start. The weather didn't disappoint and with rain in the air, we woke up to a beautiful morning and discovered that the Indian Adventures-owned Bison River Resort was an even more exotic property than it had seemed under cover of darkness the night before. Perched on the banks of the Kali river, which is famous for white water rafting in South India, the resort is a nature haven and has retained its natural charm even in terms of the rustic accommodation provided in quaint cottages, thankfully without any urban evils such as TVs or phones in the rooms.

From jungle walks and safaris to rafting, the resort offers a range of adventure activities, which we missed out on because of our time constraint and agenda. We only whetted our appetites for a sumptuous breakfast with a quick dip in the deep, cold and fast flowing Kali river before moving on to our next destination, which is exotic to the point of unbelievable. We were now headed to Mungud village, approximately 140 kms further into the interior of Karnataka, to uncover a place called Little Tibet - just like it sounds, a Tibetan settlement of over 11,000 people in the heart of Karnataka!

The roads to Little Tibet, after the initial stretch of country roads, were surprisingly good and it was only the last 25 kms or so of approach that really tested the suspension and stability, but the car passed with flying colours again with the ESP (Electronic Stability Program) swinging into action on the particularly bad stretches. Our second afternoon was spent taking in the ambience and sights of Little Tibet, complete with monasteries, including one with a gold-plated 15 feet statue of Buddha, a monastic university, monks in maroon clothing et al. In fact, we were looked upon and felt like foreigners in our own country. It was truly an amazing experience.

We were allowed to exit this foreign settlement thankfully without any passport or visa checks and embarked on our journey through Karwar and onto Goa (approx 240 kms from Little Tibet) just as the sun was setting. I must say that I was very impressed with the roads in interior Karnataka, especially the state highways. The Mercedes, of course, paid rich tribute to the excellent roads with a constant speed of between 100 kmph to 120 kmph and we covered the distance to Goa in no time at all, crossing the Karnataka border into Canacona at around 7.30 p.m. Half an hour later, we were pulling into the imposing structure of the InterContinental The Grand Resort, Goa, the newest five-star luxury hotel to open in the state, right at the very southern-most tip of Goa on Canacona beach.

This was to be our night halt, and we busied ourselves Goa-style at the hotel sports bar while indulging in a few games of pool. Come 10 p.m. and it's time to savour the night life in Goa… surprisingly there were quite a few beach restaurants open even in the off-season at Colva, 35 kms away, but driving is now the main part of the entertainment. A great Goan dinner and a couple of beers later, we're certainly ready to call it a day, especially when we know that the suite at the InterContinental that awaits us is something really special.

InterContinental The Grand Resort, Canacona beach

As morning breaks over Goa with sunshine for the first time on this trip, we realise that the view from the balcony of the suites is really spectacular, overlooking the pool, the vast expanse of the hotel golf-course, the adjoining villas and on to the Canacona beach. A really tempting place for a photo-shoot. Too bad we couldn't stay on and sample what this lavish property had to offer but that didn't deter us from taking a quick tour of the resort before we departed on the final leg of our journey. A dekko of the villas, restaurants, gymnasium and fabulous health spa left us feeling even more cheated that we didn't have the time to indulge, but I made a mental note to return soon for a leisurely vacation.

Moving through Goa from South to North, driving along the coast and occasionally stopping for a photo-shoot, we finally crossed over into Maharashtra after 4 p.m., unable to resist a Goan lunch on the way, of course. Then started the serious driving as I realised that we were way behind schedule to the way back to Mumbai. By now, the incredible response of the car to the slightest of commands was a given and I was determined to give it one last good work out.

The miles flew by as we passed Ratnagiri and were just 30 kms short of Chiplun when dusk turned to night. The lights were on once again and transformed the interior of the car into a fairyland, the innumerable lights on the dashboard controls giving me the impression of being in a cockpit. Well, I was not far from taking off with the pace I was maintaining even in the darkness as the combination of the fog lights and Bi-Xenon headlights ensured maximum visibility. Even as the road zigzagged into the night, I realised that my average speed had not dropped at all as the four-wheel ABS, ventilated disc brakes and electronic traction control made driving through the wet and slippery streets a non-issue.

The post dinner drive from Chiplun to Mumbai was uneventful and a trifle sombre as the three of us realised that this unique experience was coming to an end. But all that changed in a jiffy as Achal switched on the music system and loaded a few CDs into the built-in CD changer. The mood was elevated immediately as we drove the rest of the way into Mumbai to the strains of popular tracks from Dire Straits, The Beatles and other oldies (just my kind of music). I pushed the volume controls on my steering wheel for more effect. I should have mentioned this earlier - this car is equipped with the most heavenly 10-speaker surround sound system, which dishes out unbelievable audio quality.

Lost in the sheer comfort and magical ambience that this Mercedes Benz is capable of creating, it seemed like no time at all when I swept into Mumbai. The clock said 2 a.m. and the computerised cluster display on the dashboard showed that I had covered 630 kms in nine hours of driving (discounting one hour for the dinner break). That's an incredible average of 70 kms per hour, and what's more driving fatigue seemed to be a thing of the past!

I was jolted back to harsh reality while driving to work the next day, battling the roads and Mumbai traffic all over again. Alas, the dream was over…