02: Introducing the 'gang' of road trippers

People don’t take trips… trips take people.
- John Steinbeck

A little background about the gang: The gang is a set of friends and their families residing at Shivtara Garden society in the Kothrud area of Pune city (Maharashtra state). In all, we are 6 families: Anikhindi, Kunte, Kulkarni, Bhide, Ghanpathi and Joshi. We all have been together for around 8 years now, and have a lot of common interests including playing instruments, singing, travel and hanging out in general (not necessarily in that order). 

Bhide, Ghanpathi and Joshi families had other priorities and hence could not be part of the Rajasthan road trip. We would have loved to travel together (and have done so on various occasions in the past, albeit to closer destinations). This being a long trip (week and a half) plus other reasons and priorities taking over, a lot of stars would have to align for all 6 families to be part of the road trip.

L-R: Mukul, Rama, Anant, Trisha, Gauri, Ruhi, Pallavi, Aniket

The gang of road trippers finally included 3 families: Anikhindi, Kunte and Kulkarni. Yours truly is Aniket Anikhindi, and his family includes his wife Pallavi and daughter Ruhi (aged 7). The Kunte family includes Mukul, his wife Gauri and their daughter Trisha (aged 8). The Kulkarni family includes Anant, his wife Rama and their daughter Aabha (aged 14). Aabha was the only one who didn't have company of her age and she had other stuff to take care of, hence she decided not to join the trip. That meant the road trip gang was a group of 8 folks - 6 adults and 2 kids.

Mahindra XUV 5OO - W10 Facelift version 2015

The round of introductions cannot be complete without the cheetah, our travel companion. My cheetah is a year and half old and comes from the "proudly Indian" XUV 5OO family of Mahindra cars. She belongs to the W10 model series, having sunset orange colour and a new facelift design (both introduced in 2015), being the top end model with a sun roof. The cheetah is a 7 seater, and I have gone on road trips in the past with more than 7 folks (with much lesser luggage though). We needed to ensure that the luggage was not kept inside the car. After all, we would spend a good 9-12 hours on long days travelling in the car.

L-R: Anant, Mukul, Aniket

Anant, Mukul and I would be taking turns driving during the road trip. I had driven the cheetah to various beaches in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, as well as to the adjoining states of Karnataka and Goa. Anant and Mukul had been to places in Karnataka, Tamilnadu and Goa in their respective cars, and we have been together on trips to closer destinations around Pune in my cheetah. All of us were pretty excited to go on a road trip this long! We were just hoping that the experience would be smooth and comfortable for the other road trippers as well. We decided to leave no stone unturned to make that possible.