ARRIVING AT A HILTON ON THE HILLS IN A PORSCHE HIGH ON SPACE

What happens when a driver's delight meets a luxury property loaded to the gills? Pure magic, says a city slicker stuck within the four walls of his house for eight months of lockdown

- Dhiram Shah

CONTRARY TO WHAT John Denver once felt, if you live in Mumbai, Country Roads generally do not take you home — they take you as far as you can get from your home, which is nestled in the bustle of the bubbling financial capital of India. Being caged inside our concrete paradise for months, the entire family needed some stretching-of-legs to do and we wanted to make it worth our while, especially since we had accrued the year’s entire holiday budget. And so, we placed our proverbial finger on the Hilton Shillim, deciding that we had to arrive there in style — a challenge that was hardly one, with the Porsche Cayenne Coupe waiting in my parking spot.

Setting off with a family of five, some anxious and some excited, for the first drive out of town after the easing of the lockdown was really something. The general mood of the crowd was a strong desire to unshackle the stagnation the pandemic caused. And then when we loaded up the Cayenne with our light luggage and settled in. That’s right when the traces of anxiety seemed to dissipate, almost completely. Just as they made themselves comfortable on the lowered and easy-to-mount seats, an infectious smile spread on every face.

The Cayenne Coupe is a wide car with a width of nearly two meters. Mumbai-dwellers may find it to be a handful in the bumper-to-bumper traffic, but when you have to ferry a family across 120-odd kilometres, it’s nothing short of a blessing.