Being Tamed by The Beast

When the storm comes you don’t usually jump right at it, but when “The Storme" comes no matter what you are doing you need to abandon everything and jump right at it and that is exactly what I did on 1^st June 2013, when the storme roared on Chitrakut Grounds, Andheri, Mumbai. A tata storme Xtreme drive event/meet was organized by the indibloggers there, and I literally had an Xtremely amazing experience of meeting the beast, that its own creators claim is ‘to be feared and respected in equal measures’.

 Meet The Beast

I along with two of my friends, reached the venue well before time. We were the first people to arrive after the indi team, and had to stand outside for sometime till the final settings were being done. All that while we could see banners of Tata Safari Storme on the ground and kept wondering what was in store for us. And so the event began almost on time with our favoutire indi host Mr Anoop Johnson. And as soon as the meet began we had goodies raining on us, unfortunately Aditya aka the Nameless One, Fatima and me we had no chance of getting wet cause we could not get Anoop’s attention at our shouting selves..:(…Anyways the giveaways this time were a lot different than the ones we had seen in any Indibloggers meet ever and were given for a game pick a number between 1-10 (it was actually 11, but Anoop forgot..:D). A part for 2 and 5 the freebies ranged from 500 bucks to wildcraft sleeping bags and Swiss knife, but for the 2 very lucky numbers indi team gave a banana and an onion ring! Man, these people know very well how to pull our legs, don’t they?

Post the giveaway session was our famous 60 seconds to fame ritual, and this time every blogger present in the room got the chance to speak up including the Indi team. Hemal was actually shocked to see his name..:D. And then began the trip to the Xtreme world.

The Unlucky One

Finally Hemal Introduces Himself

60 Seconds To Fame

The Tata Motors marketing chief started a presentation which was a sneak peek of what we were to experience in sometime. And frankly during the presentations my expectations went way to high and I was afraid if the beast could satiate it. During the presentation began the other ritual of tweeting. This time we had to tweet about Xtreme experience or driving and the prize was a digicam, and ya you guessed it right I didn’t get it, Unlucky Me!

Tata Motors Marketing Cheif

What He Said and I Didn't Believe *Stupid Me*

Okay moving on from my sulking mode we were asked to make a group of 20 people before moving out to the ground. Our team the Storme Riders had 21 people though, were the first ones destined to be tested on the line of fire and the task assigned was to tame the beast – pull the beast with a rope. Did I tell you we had 6 girls in our group? Imagine our shock and misery when we heard the task! But now remember, don’t under estimate girls ever cause be pulled the huge safari to the destination line in 6 seconds!!! Yay…tried again and this time the beast gave up and we broke the rope..:P a friend of mine hurt himself while trying to break our record and that was when I discovered the Tata team were first aid ready also, Respect!

Our Group Of Twenty

The Bloggers and The Beast

Anyways even though we didn’t win we were proud riders and the first group to be sent off to the other section  of the ground where an entire terrain had been designed for us to test our expectation of the Tata Safari Storme, and this was my favourite part of the meet. The terrain was so much fun!!!! Up, down, tilts, elevation, depressions – it had everything and the Storme showed no mercy on any of them and conquered all. From there we went to the five stage test the Tata team had set for its own beast – the Bumblebee, rumblers,  bat (a 45 deg tilted slope, and the scariest of all), terapod and the see saw and boy didn’t the beast shine like a victor on all of them! On elevated slopes of the terapod and bumble bee the Strome actually operated on its own without any acceleration, in the 4x4 wheel drive mode. Believe it or not its true!! The reason being the  high torque of the SUV itself and its powerful 2.2L Varicor engine. Also trust me when I say this, my heart skipped a couple of beats when the Storme was brought to a standstill on the bat and 3 Tata team member actually tried to pull it down by mounting it on the tilted sides. But you can always trust the Beast to stand strong and not move an inch as its suspension is unquestionably the mightiest I have ever seen. Also be almost evaded a tornado of dust when one of the Tata team members made the beast roar and go round and round in a particular area to display its average turn radius is the smallest of any SUV in India 5.3m!!. *Cough Cough*, It is the dust, you see..:P

Test Phase

Been there done that, we were beaming with happiness cause we had beaten the heat with a lot of dust, awe, excitement, red bull and chilled water, but for people with driving license there was still more thrill to feel. Haha did you guess it? Ya we got the opportunity to test drive the Beast. This made me feel like the luckiest girl that day, sorry to the people who didn’t get their license. Anyways I drove it on the five huddles with a bit of supervision from the Tata team and now every time I drive my own car I dream of the Strome. Also kudos to the amazing Tata team for the drives, they are great drivers (jealous) and also super friendly you know. And on field also began the crazy Xtreme tweet syndrome.

Can You See That? Na, I Didn't Drve That Way.

After all the adrenaline rush we went back to the food, let me call it, car food areana. And it was then when I could finally here the rumble of my stomach. The food yummy and simply veg were also named related to the on road events and were a constant remainder of the Xtreme experience that we are bound to remember for a very long time. After suffing myself with two kulfis I went to collect my Indi Shirt because no matter what I am proud to be a Blogger!..:D clicked a few pictures, this time also with the entire Indi team and headed home. My ride unfortunately was the Xtreme Mumbai Local western Chruchgate Virar train. Ah I missed those leather seats so much! Mom picked me from station in our car and I was laughing to myself thinking has our car shrunk suddenly or I grew taller. Huh the meet sure made me a Strome Maniac craving for some Xtreme experience, but guess it is worth it!

Alas!It ended...but with an IndiPic..:D

P.S. -Wanted to post about this meet that day itself, but my lappy was in a coma and has just come out of it. Picture courtesy Indiblogger and Swaroop Guggilam