Making An Ash Of Things

Driving in the shadow of the volcanic Mount Pinatubo on the streaming Lahar bed.

- Aninda Sardar

CLEARLY MARTIN KNOWS something I don’t. “Stay on course, in the tracks of the car ahead. Don’t move left or right,” says our instructor quietly even as he gently puts a hand on my knee and pushes down on it, a reminder that allowing the Ford Everest that I’m piloting to slow down to less than 30kmph would result in the use of a winch and hours of labour. Without constant momentum, the big and butch SUV will sink in to the ash laden beds of Lahar in the Philippines, in a heartbeat. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Everest (or so you think), it is what Ford calls the Endeavour SUV in all markets outside of India. Which is also why I will now refer to the vehicle as Endeavour from here on.