In the second leg of the Great India Drive we start off in the Hyundai Venue from Hyderabad and head towards Bengaluru before finishing in Chennai
Story: Harket Suchde
Photography: Sanjay Raikar
Hyderabad is an interesting city to visit, no doubt. Ancient monuments, a cutting-edge IT area, and some amazing food too. Well, I was leaving all of that in my rear-view. I wasn’t really despondent, though; quite the opposite, in fact. Firstly, I was on a fun stretch of highway roads in the Hyundai Venue and my sat-nav read Bengaluru. You can’t be anything but excited when heading to one of the coolest, most hip cities in India. That too when you’re behind the wheel of one of the most fascinating new compact SUVs in the market.
I was having a blast driving down NH 44, my music blaring through the excellent sound system. The Venue’s 1.4-litre diesel produces 90 hp and 220 Nm — more than enough for India’s highways. The SUV’s NVH damping is superb, too; so, you don’t have to deal with that gruff diesel noise and you can drive along in peace. After gunning down the highway, it was quite a contrast, and an unpleasant one at that, to enter Bengaluru’s traffic-choked streets. By the time we got into town and anywhere near anything interesting, night had fallen, so, instead, we just headed straight to our hotel for the night.
The next morning was all about exploring this metropolis and I wanted to start at the Vidhana Soudha. This is the political centre of Karnataka, the state’s seat of legislature. This majestic building seamlessly melds Dravidian architecture with modern sensibilities and was built in 1956.
