STARS, SAND & THE MERCEDES-BENZ GLA

The Desert That Resets You. The SUV That Takes You There.

- RAMESH SOMANI

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. 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.

The Thar isn't subtle. Its dunes rise like frozen waves, its wind carries old stories, and its sunsets set entire skies ablaze. Through all of it, the GLA moved with effortless confidence. The 4MATIC all-wheel drive and Off-road Technology Package made it feel as if the car already knew the desert's rhythm. The 19-inch alloys glided through soft sand, while inside, the cabin wrapped us in leather-lined calm, broken only by laughter and the occasional “Is this really happening?”