MODEL CITIZEN

The Kia Carnival does social distancing right

- Aditya Upadhyaula

We’re living in some very strange times right now. To say that our lives have been disrupted is probably the understatement of the century. We barely leave the house anymore and social gatherings are a thing of the past. What can you do with your time, then? You certainly can’t meet friends and travel. Or can you? In our current situation, something like the Kia Carnival lets you regain some sense of normalcy, however strange that might sound. The Kia Carnival, for the uninitiated, is an MPV that’s available in 7-, 8- and 9-seat variants, and its main market is the USA. That alone should tell you about the kind of space on offer here. The Americans are all about supersizing, after all.

We have with us the 7-seat limousine version, which cocoons the occupants in luxury that puts business-class travel to shame. Admittedly, you’d have a much better time ‘living’ in a purpose-built camper for longer adventures on the road, but for short weekend jaunts, this MPV does just fine. You can load it up with everything you need for a weekend away and get as far away from the city as possible. We take that idea just a little further. Now about that normalcy, all you really need to get by these days is a decent internet connection and some shelter from the weather. Besides food and water, that is. And with the current 4G infrastructure, you’d have to go to some pretty remote locations to be fully out of reach of our telecommunications networks.