122 http://www.evoIndia.com | July 2019
AFZAL: The baton was relayed to me from Suvrat and I
was now tasked with the final leg of the India Diamond
Trail. After all the Renault KWID had been put through,
especially the challenges it faced in the North East, I
was extremely confident. But there was one mighty
challenge still in the waiting. The Zojila pass. It had
only been a couple of weeks since it opened this year
and there was loads of traffic making its way to Kargil
resulting in traffic jams that stretched for kilometres on
end. The Traffic Assist Mode in AMT helped the car inch
forward in heavy traffic and kept it steady on slopes.
The drive from Delhi to Jammu the previous day
was an extremely smooth highway run on some great
dual carriageway sections. Ill-mannered traffic was a
problem, though, and that’s where the manoeuvrability
of the KWID came to the fore. The commendable brakes
too were quick to come to our aid when errant motorists
would swerve into our path.
The wonderful highways led us to a surprisingly
hot and humid Jammu. After just my first day on the
India Diamond Trail, I couldn’t help but recall all the
incredible things we did a year ago with the KWID
while on a challenge many had deemed impossible.
Now we were close to completing another challenge of
Clockwise from top left: A steaming hot plate of Maggi at Zojila pass;
driving over cable stayed bridges like these gave us goosebumps; water
fording in the KWID; a rhino by the road in KazirangaI COULDN’T HELP
BUT RECALL ALL THE
INCREDIBLE THINGS WE
DID WITH THE KWID