SLUSH FLUSH?

It's the clash of 4x4s in slush. Wanna bet?

- Tirth Pandya

As a kid, I loved dirt. I played in it, rolled in it, and occasionally sampled it — which always earned me a stern look from my mother. One particularly nosey lady once suggested to my mother that it might be calcium deficiency. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. But one thing I know for sure — I never outgrew my love for dirt. And that brings us to the Slush Fest — Motoring World’s glorious tribute to all things muddy, mucky, and magnificently off-road.

And guess who got the keys to this year’s shenanigans? Yours truly. Yep, I was handed the baton (or should I say the steering wheel?), and boy, was I grinning like a kid in a candy store. Only, this candy store was filled with 4x4s, and the candy is caked in good ol’ slush. We were ready to play!

Step one: Line up the machines. We’d shortlisted some real beasts: the Mahindra Thar Roxx, the Force Gurkha, the Jeep Wrangler, the Maruti Suzuki Jimny, the Land Rover Defender, the Toyota Hilux and the mighty Mercedes-Benz G 400d. A dream team for dirt addicts like me. But as luck would have it, only three from our shortlist made it to the party.

Step two: Location. Enter Keshav, our Boy Scout, who got in touch with Rahul Richard — an off-road maestro, ex-auto journo, and the proud owner of 4XFarm, (Four-by Farm, that’s how you say it) just 50 km outside Mumbai. This 21-acre playground comes with about six to seven obstacles designed to test our metal and mettle. Here we go!

All of this was set against the backdrop of nature’s beauty — a trail running beside a serene lake, perfect for reflecting on life’s more important question: Can we make it through without getting stuck? Now, there were four Motoring drivers, who had to beat the benchmark time set by Rahul in his Jeep.