It took a very long time coming, but I guess it’s better late than never. The 65th edition of the Mahindra Great Escape was held in Assam and Meghalaya. Considering the huge number of Bolero and Scorpio SUVs that Mahindra sells all over the hilly Northern Eastern region, it was just a matter of time before the circus came to town.

Everyone expected a much bigger turnout than the 35 odd jeeps that were flagged off by the Transport Commissioner of Assam, Swapnanil Baruah, from Greenwood Resort on the Assam-Meghalaya border. Nevertheless, a lot of enthusiasts did come just to see the flag-off, which in turn means that you should see a huge jump in participation next time.

Almost the entire range of recent Mahindra vehicles lined up in the morning – Boleros, Scorpios, Bolero Pickups, Legends, Xylos, Classics and a lone CJ3B. In fact, the CJ3B was the only petrol jeep at the event. Quite a few of the vehicles were without the 4x4 application, and some of them had to be diverted through stretches that were not as difficult.

The route chosen was 35 kilometers long. After the flag off, the convoy entered Meghalaya, and immediately went off-road from Umtru, in Barnihat, where Meghalaya is building a dam for a hydro project. Right after the dam, the proper hills started, and the surface started getting worse by the meter (or should I say better?). At some point, one of the trails had seen heavy truck traffic, which meant that it was severely rutted. And, since the road was very narrow – with the hills on one side, and a quite steep drop on the other – it made manoeuvring rather tricky.



Some portions of the track were quite narrow for most of the vehicles, and it would have been extremely difficult for a vehicle with the bulk of a Scorpio Getaway to negotiate. In fact, a few of the vehicles got stuck badly in the ruts and had to be pulled out by the rescue team.

There were a few stretches of slush, but almost all the vehicles crossed quite comfortably. It was the rather steep inclines that made life a bit difficult for some of the drivers and their vehicles. A common mistake is to rev too hard, which invariably results in wheelspin – leaving the vehicle going nowhere but backwards.

The ruts were so deep, in fact, that the undercarriage of a couple of jeeps got marooned, which left all four wheels hanging and spinning in the air. The fully independent suspension that a Bolero Pickup sported didn’t help any, and it had to be pulled out by the CJ3B.

There were some who lamented the lack of slush, but these hills have very slippery soil, and, had there been rain, it would have been near impossible to climb those narrow uphill stretches!



The only vehicle that finished the course with aplomb was the CJ 3B. With such a fantastic power-to-weight ratio, not to mention the brilliant approach and departure angles, the little Jeep negotiated the entire track with ridiculous ease. The more modern Xylos found the going a little tough at places because of the lack of four-wheel drive.

Bijoy Kumar, who now heads the adventure sports section of Mahindra & Mahindra, took pains to explain that the event would gradually cover a majority of the entire North East. After all, the North East is complete Jeep country. Since this area was a WWII theatre, jeeps came here rather early, and are, therefore, an integral part of the region. The company’s plans of taking the event to different corners of the region will surely meet with great success. Someone in the organising committee certainly deserves a medal. But there was also someone who had the bright idea of bringing along a Maruti Omni Van as an ambulance in a 4x4 event. The van, of course, stayed at the bottom of the hill. Fortunately, it wasn’t required!