Kolkata-based 65-year-old Joginder Kumar Jaiswal has been participating in car rallies for nearly forty years now. He says it is his passion towards driving that motivates him to take part in rallies as much as he can. Three years ago, when his former navigator–a bank employee–stopped participating in rallies, Jaiswal teamed up with Prakash Muthuswamy from Coimbatore. “It’s all about forming a good bond with your navigator (co-driver). Now, whenever there is a rally on the eastern side, he and I are partners,” Jaiswal said.
While Jaiswal has participated in numerous car rallies, he wasn’t able to smell the taste of victory until this time at the ninth edition of the Himalayan Drive. The team of Jaiswal and Muthuswamy not only lifted the trophy, they did so by defeating the five-time champions Asgar Ali and Muhammad Mustafa. “I would always finish first or second, and have even lost by six seconds, but this time we managed to win,” Jaiswal said.
Many other participants EastMojo spoke to said that they “love driving” but the Himalayan Drive allows them to take this passion a step further as they explore more off-roading opportunities within the realm of motorsports and driving.
For the past nine years, the rally has been organised by Just Sportz Management Pvt. Ltd, an affiliate of Federation of Motorsports Club of India. This year, it was supported by Experience Bengal, Government of Sikkim and Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA). The rally was flagged off on April 9 from Siliguri’s Mayfair Tea Resort, and more than 30 cars participated in the drive. Ambassadors of ten G20 nations were also present during the flag-off ceremony.
On day 1, as the rally began from Siliguri, the cars first took to a river bed. After they crossed the river bed, the cars travelled on smooth tarmac, passed through dirt tracks, tea gardens, paddy fields and forests before culminating in Murti covering more than 200 km.
The second leg of the rally covered about 194 km from Murti to Gangtok. The rally cars passed through scenic tourist spots such as Chapramari forests, Lava and Pedong before hitting the road to reach Gangtok.
The third and final leg of the rally was flagged off from Ganesh Tok in Gangtok by Sikkim’s Ministerof Power, MN Sherpa. The competitors passed through Temi tea estate, Namchi, Jorethang and Hill Cart Road before reaching Gorkha Rangmanch Bhavan in Darjeeling. “It is challenging especially on the river beds because there are big stones and there is a possibility of the cars getting stuck. Our cars are modified,” Muthuswamy said.
According to Indraneil Mallik who represents the organising body Just Sportz, “motorsports is a niche sport which attracts a lot of attention. We are trying to promote cross border tourism, alternative sports, adventure sports and of course road safety is very important for us. We abide by all the road rules.”
Several women participants
Over the years, the rally has managed to inspire many women drivers and navigators. This year there were three all women’s teams. Jasmeet Kaur from Gurgaon who worked in public relations and corporate affairs for many years quit her job in 2018. That year, a friend of hers up told her to participate in a car rally. “I didn’t know anything about it but I figured it must be something to do with racing, and that was the first rally I signed up for and it was from Delhi to Jaipur.”
Since then, Kaur has gone on to represent India at Rally Jameel–the first women’s only navigation rally in Saudi Arabia and the Arab region. While Rally Jameel was a “great learning experience” for her, it is the Himalayan Rally that Kaur says is close to her heart. “I love these kinds of terrains and drives, it’s challenging and I make it a point to never miss it.”
When asked if she sees more women showing interest in motorsports, she says, “I don’t see a very big traction yet, but I see more women coming into motorsport.”
Kaur and her partner Kashish Mehta finished first in the Open Class category of the Himalayan Drive this year.
Another woman contestant Preeti Khandelwal who came from Mumbai said: “The Himalayan car rally is one of the most prestigious rallies and to be able to receive an invitation is a thrilling experience.”
She and her navigator partner Anagha Joshi came second in the invitation category.
Khandelwal, who has been rallying for almost 11 years, is a professional navigator as well. “I have always been driving and it’s a plus point to know both, but now I also have my navigator partner Anagha who is a very good navigator,” Khandelwal said.
She explained that the tulip chart is not easy to read for any navigator. “You must know all the depictions which are given so that you can follow the correct path, if you don’t follow the correct path, then you lose time and the TSD (time, speed, distance) rallies such as these are all about managing time, speed and distance. As a navigator, I learnt how to read the chart, how to calculate the timings and that has helped me in my driving.”
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There were also a few husband and wife duos who participated in the event. Take Sameeksha and Pulkit Srivastava for instance, who’ve been participating in rallies for the past few months. The Srivastavas came second in the open category in their very first time at the rally this time. “I love driving. My husband encouraged me to try out rallying and he offered to be my navigator. We’ve even participated in the Highland Extreme rally where I was the only woman to drive on sand dunes. I never thought I could do that,” Sameeskha said, who wants to be referred to as “Thar Rani”–a name given to her by Pulkit because “she is a fantastic driver and drives a Thar,” Pulkit said.
Sanjay Maheshwari, one of the founders of Just Sportz, said they hope to include other northeast Indian states besides Sikkim in the future Himalayan drives. “This is not the first time we have taken the event to Sikkim; we have gone in the past too. In the future, we are hopeful that we might take it to the other northeast Indian states,” Maheshwari said. It’s a competitive event, he said, and “it takes a lot of mental and physical toll on the car, the drivers and the navigators.”
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