Delhi to Srinagar in a Tata Safari Storme

We drove with the Safari Owners United League, popularly known as SOUL, to Srinagar in a Tata Safari Storme to better understand the bond between the owners and his or her car.

Hardly a week before, three gunmen from Pakistan had entered the sleepy town of Gurdaspur in Punjab and killed three civilians and four policemen near the stall where I was sitting that afternoon having tea. The air felt heavy, as I made small talk with a fellow journalist and three other men who had come straight from Nagpur to be a part of a heady, adventurous drive.

The idea was simple. Tata Motors had decided to invite some Safari owners, a group who Tata proudly calls SOUL – a brotherhood of Safari owners – to take them on the trip of their lifetime. The drive was scheduled to start from Jammu and end in Manali, via some of the most stunning landscape this country has to offer. The itinerary included places like Srinagar, Kargil, Leh, a night at Pangong Tso, Tso Moriri and Sarchu.

Due to a lack of time, I had no option but to fly out of Srinagar – but I got to drive with the guys from Delhi to Srinagar at least. The car that I was driving was a Safari Storme, which is powered by a 2.2-litre diesel engine delivering 148bhp and 320Nm of torque. The seating quality of the Safari is something that’s always been its strong point, and the Storme takes this to another level. So off to Jammu I was, sitting in the Storme, enjoying a car with enough torque to take me anywhere – despite weighing a little over 2.5 tonnes.

The terror attack in Punjab meant security was scaled up through the north, particularly between Jammu to Srinagar. The heavy army presence all along the highway didn’t quite let us enjoy the landscape. And if that wasn’t bad enough, we were driving amidst throngs of pilgrims headed for Amarnath. The heavy traffic on the highway lasted all the way to Srinagar, and once in the capital of Jammu and Kashmir, we were welcomed by the rain.

After we checked into the hotel and freshened up, it was time to take a walk along the Dal Lake on Boulevard Road before heading back to start packing for the flight back home the next morning. Nevertheless, my takeaway from the short time that I spent with the Safari owners was that they seemed to embody the sprit that was so eloquently captured in that famous Tata Safari ad that encouraged you to ‘Reclaim your life!’ Good advice people – take it!