I like Indiblogger meets. So it’s obvious that when there’s a meet happening around I wouldn’t dare to say no!
This one was different. It was a meet for 24 selected bloggers from Mumbai and Pune who would get the opportunity to take the TATA Nano Gen X Easy Shift AMT on a road trip.
Oh yeah, a road trip!
So a heads up; I don’t know how to drive, and I don’t have a license either (yeah, it’s high time I get one). So my chances of being selected were on a Nano scale. But hey, where you need drivers, you also need people at the backseat also. So when I got the confirmation call, there was a moment of happiness and a huge moment of shock.
The shock was to wake up early on a SUNDAY morning. It was hard but I did manage to wake up. We left early at 6.30 and post everyone settling down in the bus, had the wackiest ever introductions. Mine happened at 7.45 am and seriously that’s the earliest I have ever given an introduction anywhere!
Post a few hours we were in Pune at the “Tata Lake house” where we were first welcomed by the Indi team alongside photographers clicking our pictures like there’s no tomorrow. Who am I to complain? Then we were treated to a delightful breakfast accompanied with a relaxing view. I must tell you the view from that place is just too mesmerizing.
Later we got a heads up from the TATA team about the car, it’s features and what gives it the GEN X feel. Post that we 24 were divided into 8 groups. Each car had 1 TATA personnel with them as a navigator.
My team comprised of,
Rohini – Our sole driver for the day.
Pranav – The Cool Navigator.
Shubham – Our Social media guy for the day and
Me – Hmmm, I just was there to enjoy the journey from the backseat.
We were team “D” but that name didn’t sound so cool, so we got ourselves an awesome name i.e. “The Nano Knights”. Anyways, here’s what this Nano knight thought about the car post the drive.
ü The car looks awesome with 2 new colors i.e. Persian rose and Sangria Red (that’s an awesome choice BTW)
ü There are 3 main features i.e. the Design next, The Drive next and the Connect Next.
ü They have done a lot of work on the design and that can be seen in the final product. It does catch your eye.
ü They also have 94 litre boot space in the AMT and 110 in the manual versions meaning you can stuff in a lot of things in the boot space.
ü About the drive next, they have sports mode, creep mode and the AMT of course.
ü Sports mode is for the power loving people who just need an open road and want to zoom away.
ü The creep mode will be a boon for us Mumbaikars as when you release the brake; the car automatically creeps a bit.
ü Also with NANO, you have the smallest turning radius of 4m.
ü The Auto manual transmission (AMT) is a boon for people who like the automatic way and for the traditionalists there is the shift assist manual mode.
ü As for the Connect next, they have a Bluetooth system where you can connect your phone with the system and take calls while you drive.
ü There also is the digital clock, the gear shift indicator and distance left till tank gets empty.
ü In this segment with a price range of 2.75-3.5 lacs ex-showroom, I doubt you’d get so much, so well done TATA team.
Examples:
Click a weird selfie of your team in the car.
Do a flash mob outside with the car in the background.
A best of 3 arm wrestling match for the guys on the backseat.
Click a pic of something red with the car.
And trust me there were many many more such challenges.
Here are some glimpses.
Amidst all this I forgot about the awesome lunch and interview session in Mezza9.
This resto-bar is worth visiting.
I liked the ambience, the welcome drinks, the food and everything.
Some chose to give an interview about their car experience while the rest were chatting like there’s no tomorrow.
Post the lunch and the drive we headed back to the lake house where a test track awaited us. Post driving through that we were treated to delicious snacks again with the breathtaking view and then the finale.
We were taught the tricks to playing the djembe.
And boy that was fun. Mr.Varun Venkit from Taal Inc made sure we were refreshed and yes the madness for 30 minutes was the highlight for the day.
Vote of Thanks:
Yeah, I seriously owe this trip to Indiblogger and the TATA team. Thank you for all the moments.
Thank you for the madness, the laughter, for treating us like celebs ad thank you for the awesome drive experience.
And finally to all the people who came on the trip, I really am glad to have connected with you guys. You all are awesome and I look forward to meeting ya’ll more often. Stay in touch peeps.
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| We rock!!! |