04: Getting the cheetah (XUV 5OO) ready

Destination, itinerary, mode of travel and stay taken care of, last but definitely not the least was to ensure that my cheetah (the XUV 5OO) was completely ready for the road trip. It may seem trivial but required meticulous planning to ensure a safe, smooth and comfortable drive. It included taking care of whatever repairs that were necessary and getting the car serviced so that it was in good shape. It required thinking about all that could go wrong and ensuring that it wouldn't. It also required thinking about making the journey memorable and comfortable for one and all.

American Tourister polyester duffle bag

I needed to get the car fitted with a roof carrier for luggage and get a good quality rope to tie our bags on the roof carrier. We also needed to ensure that our bags were such that they would all fit well on the roof carrier. Mukul had recently purchased a good set of American Tourister polyester duffle bags. Anant and I decided to order exactly similar bags for our families so that it would be easy to fit similar shaped bags on the roof carrier. It was pretty important to get this part right - because carrying any luggage inside the car would mean compromising on leg space or occupying seating space which would have been highly undesirable.

Roof carrier on the cheetah

I got the roof carrier fitted on the 4th of November 2016. The make of the roof carrier was M-Tek, a pretty reliable brand. Among the various models available for the XUV 5OO, I chose the Galaxy model since it had a sturdy base and ample protection along the edges. As soon as the roof carrier was fitted, we had a trial using Mukul's duffle bags to get an idea of how many bags would fit on the carrier. We figured we could fit 4 bags at the base and could load more atop those. Anant and I got similar American Tourister polyester duffle bags delivered by mid November 2016. We still had about 4 weeks to get a rehearsal done.

Meanwhile, on 8th November 2016, high denomination currency notes were demonetised in India. As a result, we had to be prepared with some amount of cash for our road trip. Getting cash for the first few weeks after demonetisation was a tricky affair. Since high denomination notes were rendered worthless, low denomination notes were in high demand, and people started hoarding them. The toll that we would have to pay from Pune to Jaisalmer and back, would necessitate carrying change in order to avoid spending time at the toll plazas. India was gearing to reduce it's dependence on cash. ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) had been introduced a year or so ago. There weren't many takers initially - but demonetisation put ETC in the fast lane.

ICICI Bank, in collaboration with NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) introduced an RFID based tag collection system called FASTag - a simple to use, reloadable tag which enables automatic deduction of toll charges and lets you pass through the toll plaza without stopping for the cash transaction. FASTag is linked to a prepaid account from which the applicable toll amount is deducted. The tag employs Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) technology and is affixed on the vehicle's windscreen after the tag account is active. FASTag is a perfect solution for a hassle free trip on national highways.

FASTag RFID tag affixed on my cheetah

I started the hunt for getting a FASTag RFID tag for my XUV 5OO from mid November 2016. Getting the FASTag was an exercise in itself. The closest point of sale location indicated on the FASTag website was an ICICI bank branch which seemed to have no clue that it was the point of sale location. The closest toll plaza near Pune was that of Khed-Shivapur (towards Satara). Couple of visits to Khed-Shivapur yielded no results as they reported ICICI servers to be unreachable. After waiting for a few weeks, I finally tried the Talegaon toll plaza (located on the Pune-Mumbai expressway). I was fortunate to get a FASTag RFID tag for my XUV 5OO at the Talegaon toll plaza on Wednesday, 21 December 2016, just 3 days prior to departure. Paying toll at majority toll plazas would now be not only cashless but would save time as well.

Meanwhile I got a few issues fixed that I had been disregarding for quite some time now. The rear view mirror, AC control panel and a tyre pressure measuring sensor (TPMS) needed repair. I got all of those replaced as the parts were still under manufacturer's warranty. I also got the car's software and navigation maps upgraded - they hadn't been upgraded since I bought the car a year and half ago. The dashboard infotainment system UI changed a bit post the upgrade. The thing that used to annoy me the most prior to the upgrade was that the navigation interface did not show the current time, which used to force me to switch between the home screen and navigation whenever I needed to see the current time. The upgrade fixed this issue and I was glad they had observed this.

Rest of the items on the "car readiness list" included a mix of mandatory items, essential items, comfort/entertainment items and backup stuff.

Mandatory items:

• Car documents (registration certificate aka RC, taxation certificate aka TC, insurance policy, driving license)
• Car manual
• Tool kit 

Essential items:

• A good quality rope to tie the luggage on the roof carrier (15 - 20 mtrs long)
• Tarpaulin cover (to protect the luggage from heat and dust)
• Cargo net (to hold the luggage in place) with hooks
• Tyre puncture repair kit
• Tyre inflator
• Windshield cleaning liquid
• Micro-fibre cleaning cloth
• Air freshener
• Window sunshades

Comfort / entertainment items:

• Lumbar support
• Neck pillows
• Power charger(s) with USB ports
• An ample supply of music!

Backup stuff:

• Rope (in case the first rope snapped for whatever reason)
• Stretch ropes (to additionally secure the luggage if needed)
• Spare car key fob

I had taken it upon myself to get the mandatory, essential, comfort and backup stuff lists covered. Most of the items were taken care of well in advance.

First trial of tying luggage to the roof carrier

I wanted to ensure that we had a rehearsal with our bags tied securely to the roof carrier and the road trippers going on a trial drive with the luggage tied to get a feel of the actual journey. That way, we would be able to make adjustments if required - be it in terms of reducing the luggage or managing certain must-have luggage inside the car. What irked me was that despite repeated reminders, the gang kept postponing this rehearsal. It finally happened on the night of Thursday, 22 December 2016, just two days prior to our actual departure date! The rehearsal with the luggage tied with ropes proved to be pretty successful though - it gave us confidence that we would be able to manage the luggage pretty well.

We had the bags secured with the rope that I had, but I had not managed to get the cargo net (to hold the luggage in place) as yet. I had searched quite a few places - shops as well as online stores, but none had the kind of cargo net I was looking for. On Friday, 23 December 2016, a day before the departure date, I was lucky enough to find a car accessories shop in Karvenagar area which had the cargo net that I was looking for - it was sturdy, large enough to support the two-tier luggage structure we had, and it had hooks to fasten the cargo net to the roof carrier. The best part was that the maker of the cargo net was the same as the maker of the roof carrier (M-Tek) and hence the hooks were compatible. The cargo net added the much required stability to the entire structure - addressing whatever lingering doubts we had about the luggage remaining stable throughout the drive.

The cheetah was ready to take on the road - we were all set for the road trip..