PILIBHIT ICONS OF INDIA

For the sixth part of the Icons of India series, Dhruv Saxena drives the brand new Hyundai Exter to a small town in Uttar Pradesh that's famous as the land of flutes

-  Dhruv Saxena

India's culture, heritage and diversity is what we set out to explore with the start of the Icons of India series and the main .takeaway so far has been that despite years of travel and exploration, something we do relentlessly at Auto Today, we haven't even fully uncovered the proverbial tip of the iceberg. A fact that became apparent, yet again, as we journeyed to Pilibhit, a seemingly nondescript town skirting the Uttar Pradesh-Uttarakhand border as well as the Indo-Nepal border. Much like the town, the flute too, on the face of it, appears to be a humble piece of bamboo with holes drilled in it, but one which, in the right hands, can create a soul-soothing aural experience. It is an integral part of our culture transcending international borders thanks to living legends like Hariprasad Chaurasia. What ties these two together is the fact that Pilibhit accounts for 90 to 95 per cent of India's flute production.

Pilibhit aka Bansuri Nagari aka the land of flutes, is located just over 300km from New Delhi, of which the first 200 or so kilometres are smooth sailing before the average speeds drop as the highway approaches Bareilly owing to ongoing construction. The last 50km from Bareilly to Pilibhit along the two-lane NH30 is relatively slower as well. Accompanying us on this road trip was the newly launched Hyundai Exter, an affordable, feature-rich entry-level SUV- a winning combination if there ever was one.