MYSTICAL JOURNEY

Heading to the land of enchantment on the 12th Honda Drive to Discover IMA

- BENJAMIN GRACIAS

Besides making notably reliable cars, Honda also does other interesting things like taking us media folk on celebratory drives. It’s called the Drive to Discover and over the past eleven years, has taken us journalists to explore the most exotic regions of India. For its 12th edition, sights were trained on Sikkim. Interestingly, over my decade-old journalistic journey, I have travelled all over India and the world but somehow the land of enchantment has slipped under my radar. Needless to say, I was looking forward to this journey. More importantly, I was looking forward to driving Honda’s new SUV — the Elevate.

The adventure started from the moment we landed at Bagdogra airport in West Bengal. A quick lunch later, we started driving towards Gangtok, our stop for the day. Journalists were clubbed into twos and threes and allotted a choice of wheels between the Elevate, City and Amaze. As luck would have it, we were allotted the Amaze, the Elevate would have to wait.

I was not complaining though, as one thing I have learned from driving all over India is having a compact footprint is always favourable for driving in the hills. Driving the compact sedan in the hills was not just easy, it was quite fun. The Amaze excels in inspiring confidence and I admit going faster in corners much to the chagrin of my co-passenger who said nothing but was clutching the door handle hard. I think he sensed me enjoying the drive and wanted in so we swapped seats.