The ‘Millionth' Way To Trust A Truck

What it is for the trucks to log up 10 lakh kilometers on Indian roads? Hard to believe, the ‘kilometre millionaires’ are still rocking, ready to gulp another million!

- Dhiyanesh Ravichandran

A million kilometers. That’s like Neil Armstrong going to moon by road (there isn’t any!) and returns back to earth, only to realise that he has lost his wallet at the white satellite and starts off once again to get it back, and fathoms more than half all the way to moon! Or simply, that’s equivalent to circuiting the earth along the equator for about 25 times! And, that too amid rather intriguing road conditions, traffic scenarios, and wild vehicular behaviour of Indian highways, I better leave it to your imagination. Simply terrifying.

The quintessential ‘MH’ registered BharatBenz 2523R, when introduced to me as the ‘kilometre millionaire’ – the star of the ‘BharatKaBenz’ yatra – by the touring team, I was hardly convinced. Is this the truck that had put over a million kilometers, I asked myself with suspicion. I ain’t guilty, as the hauler simply did not look like fiercely beaten up, even as every random truck you spot on local highway looks like one! Nor did the truck look spic and span to say that the manufacturer has spruced it up as a promotional gimmick for the sake of this campaign.

A closer inspection brought some clarity. Foggy headlamp dooms, faded bumper and side plastic trims, windshield cracks, and casual bumps on the body here and there made it clear that the truck had done some notable do mileage. On the inside, the cabin trims and plastic dashboard parts have lost their freshness with some bearable stinkiness, the blower vents have clogged and the glove boxes, overhead bins and seat fabrics show signs of heavy usage.