We(my family) have purchased a brand new Maruti Wagon R Duo. For those who didn't know, the 'Duo' stands for the dual advantage of running it on petrol or LPG with just the flick of a switch!
The upgraded design now makes the Wagon R look cute and adorable as compared to its previous boxy and bland looks. It's got all-new front headlamps, taillights and bumpers, a more pronounced bonnet grille and newer metallic colours.
We've bought the metallic black model. The paint job is excellent but we're now debating upon the wisdom of buying a black coloured car which has an AC that's relatively less powerful as compared to higher-end cars. Remember, Chennai has horrid summers! Anyway, with better reflective window tints, we're hoping the heat stays out.
From the initial runs, there doesn't seem to be much of a performance difference while transitioning between the two modes. Which means, Maruti has done a great job in bridging the performace gap of the LPG with that of petrol. The mileage is around 12-13kmpl on LPG and 13-14kmpl on petrol. But LPG costing just half of petrol translates to monstrous savings each month!
And needless to worry, the car has a myriad of international certifications guaranteeing that it's explosion-proof! Presently, Motor LPG is available in 16 bunks across Chennai and that number is expected to rise rapidly. All in all, a rather pleasing buy.
Here is a real life encounter experienced by one of my close friends against a huge tusker. He's happy he's alive. His name is Niranjan.
Niranjan had moved to Coimbatore for work. On a particular day, he'd hired a cab to go to a small forestside town at the base of the Ooty hills in order to conduct a survey for his organisation. During the journey, he was constantly on the lookout for the herds of elephants which were famous in that part of the forest. While on his way back, the driver was casually warning him that they couldn't stop the car even for a minute fearing attacks from any stray elephants in a foul mood.
As these words were just trailing off his mouth the car turned around a corner and was greeted with the horror of a HUGE elephant approaching at full gusto!! This horrific sight froze Niranjan upto his bones and all he could see was imminent death from a stampede or a stab! And to add to his terror was the fact that the driver had brought the cab to a complete standstill and was staring at the tusker ! Panic set in and Niranjan was hollering at the driver to move at once. But on the contrary, the calm and composed driver said that it was too early to move, and that if he tried dodging so early, the tusker being the smart creature that it is would immediately adjust accordingly.
While Niranjan watched with bated breath, the elephant drew closer and closer. When it was just about 5 feet away from the cab, the driver expertly maneovered to the left, which was just enough to dodge a head-on collision but still not enough to avoid a ramming to the rear portion. The door lost its shape and its ability to close. And the fuel tank was jammed from the inside.
The car plunged into the side ditch with stones prodding into the underbelly of the car. As the driver desperately tried to pull the car out of this and bring it back onto the road, the tusker had stopped, turned around and and begun moving back towards the cab, wanting to completely satisfy its mad urge!
The driver, with a frequent grinding of gears and using all known driving techniques had been desperatelty trying to pull the car out of the ditch while he suddenly glimpsed at the rear mirror to catch a sight of two huge, sharp, pointed white tusks gleaming in the sun and moving at a high speed at its target, the cab! Previously, the fuel tank had been jammed by the elephant and there was no way the car would move.
Both Niranjan and the driver scurried out of the car and managed to run for their lives managing to hide behind some bushes. The tusker had by then reached the car and then thrust both its tusks into the rear door, lifted the car upto a height of 5 feet and slammed it back to the ground again. Then all of a sudden, it mellowed down and disappeared into the forest.
This was one of the scariest incidents in Niranjan's life. He considers this to be a Near Death Experience(NDE) and seems to have become much stronger as a person!
