Why write about the Cedia? As we come towards the end of our journey and we look back at all the places we visited, all the distance we covered, all the time spent on the highway, we realized the one thing that connects all the dots is the car.

It has become such an essential part of our daily routine for the last ten days that when this is over, we most likely will be waking up in the morning and looking to get into a white Cedia with the graphic Radhika and Bharath written on the side.
This fantastic car has been as important to the journey as our beloved Lonely Planet, all the places we’ve visited, all the people we’ve met and every hotel we’ve stayed at.

The Cedia is by far the most debated topic on our blog. However one looks at it, the car had got its fair share of publicity on our blog by its very absence. We didn’t write about the car earlier because we couldn’t comment on a car that we had barely driven. Now that we have covered 3000+ km I feel we have some vague idea as to what the car is about.

I remember my first thoughts as I entered the vehicle in Mumbai. As we were flagged off I was hoping I didn’t run over the press photographers. That would have been a disaster. My second thought was how comfortable the car was and before we had gone a couple kilometers Radhika was fast asleep. Definitely comfortable.

As we followed our route.. Ahem!..As we attempted to follow our route, there were things that we loved about the car. It was easy to drive and fun. It didn’t seem hassled in the city or on the highway. The main reason for this was the engine and gearbox combination which seemed to match perfectly. We really did enjoy using the GPS which is pretty accurate. Yes-We got lost in Madhya Pradesh but in some of those places even the locals were lost.

The highway, especially the four lane expressways, is where we had the most fun with the car. I know the whole event is called The Great Driving Challenge but it really wasn’t a challenge. We drove through Madhya Pradesh where the soya farmers were waiting for rain. We drove through Khajuraho and Varanasi where the only thing that kept us alive was the climate control air conditioner in the car. Varanasi gave us a real taste of how maneuverable the car was with its chaotic traffic and narrow roads.

We experienced the brilliance of the expressways all the way from Agra, and we even drove through heavy rain. We took the car on-road, off-road, and every road in between and it emerged without a scratch. The ground clearance is obviously good. Is there any wonder that we like the car?
Our list of grouses- The GPS input speed is slow and takes some getting used to. Though we didn’t really feel the need for it, parking sensors would be nice on the already loaded list.

At the end of this journey we’ll miss the car. It’s been comfortable, exceeded our expectations and we’ll miss the open road. Our tribute.