Part 1

Dunes bashed. The annual Great Escape took us to the sand dunes of Sam. Here’s what happened…

If you look at the truth, the toughest hurdle crossed by a modern SUV these days is mostly a pavement. The little toggle on the console reading ‘4wd-H’ and ‘4wd-L’ remains, alas, untouched! To set just such things right, Mahindra organises the Great Escape around the year giving Mahindra owners that chance to touch this toggle and actually use it. This time they got to use it as they tried to scale the sandy dunes of Sam near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.

The event started on the outskirts of Jaisalmer and a 30km tarmac leg saw an array of Mahindras, including us in a rudimentary Bolero Camper, heading towards the famous Sam dunes close to the Indo-Pak border. The tarmac bit went by before we could spell Sam and soon we had the feel of loose shifting sand under our Camper's tyres.

So, undaunted by our Camper's lack of power steering and a noisy engine under its flat bonnet, we engaged 4WDWD and braced up for the ride ahead. And what a ride it turned out to be! Being one of the last participants to drive through the course set up by Mahindra we got a good view of numerous SUVs in various states of being stuck all around us as we drove around over the dunes that were by then criss crossed with tyre tracks.

But before we could climb up the dunes, there were a few procedures to be completed. First up, tyre pressures. They had to be reduced to around 20psi. You see, on sand reduced tyre pressures mean increased footprint, and with it better traction. Well, the kind of traction you can get on sand so loose it keeps flying around. Tyre pressure set, we now headed for the real business of dune bashing.

Part 2

To drive on sand the key thing to remember is that you've got to maintain momentum. Also, any sudden change, even as simple as letting go of the throttle suddenly will help you dig in. And woe to the driver who tries to burrow his way out by spinning the wheels. Burial is assured for him.

Trying desperately to remember all these we reversed the Camper to give it some space and then stepped on the gas in a bid to build up some momentum. The truck danced around the sand and started climbing up and before we knew it the only thing we could see was the sky. Equally suddenly we saw a marshal gesturing us to stop. And then we did the unthinkable. We braked, and in the process helped dig our Camper into the soft sand.

Getting the Camper unstuck was a gentle job of rocking the vehicle back and forth and after a few attempts we were back at it. Dune bashing. And having immense fun while were at it. As the Camper barrelled through to the top of the next set of dunes I was greeted by a sight so stunning I forgot the lessons learnt just moments before and braked again! Ahead of me were a set of six dunes and on them were Mahindras of every size ease and description. As we climbed down the incline on the other side of our dune, locals gave us some handy tips – do not tread where the sand had been already ploughed but make your own way. And so we did!

Unlike most other Great Escapes, this one had no routes to follow. The end result was every participant had as much fun as possible trying to find their way back to tarmac. We too found our way back but not without our share of fun.