VIRAL EXCAPES X MERCEDESBENZ GLA

Some landscapes don't just change what you see; they change how you breathe. Rajasthan's Thar Desert is one of them. It stretches endlessly, a golden ocean shaped by wind and time.

- WORDS RAMESH SOMANI PHOTOGRAPHY NIRMEET PATIL

Out here, the horizon isn't a line but a promise - a promise that the noise fades, your thoughts slow down, and silence becomes something you can finally hear again. For Viral Excapés, this wasn't just another shoot. It felt like a reset button disguised as a road trip. We rolled into Manvar Kumat, a beautiful boutique desert resort two hours from Jodhpur, with a crew, a camel, and two Mercedes-Benz GLA that looked like it had been waiting its whole life for this landscape. And as always, we had great company: MasterChef Shipra Khanna, Vipul Roy, and Tridha Choudhury joined me in this sandy escapade.

The desert has a way of making everything dramatic - except the GLA, which refused to break a sweat. While I sat atop a camel like I had negotiated equity in the Thar, the GLA perched elegantly on a dune ridge behind us, its AMG Line silhouette cutting sharply across the sands. Even before the cameras rolled, the contrast was perfect: raw desert energy meeting clean German engineering.