Ageless wonder Rallyists D.R. Shivram & Dr. Rajesh Kadakia team up again

By N. Niranjan Nikam

Fresh from the victory in K-1000 Rally way back in August 1980, they again came together for the tougher Himalayan Car Rally in October of the same year and stood first in the Indian category of cars and overall seventh, competing with the finest car models then.

It is 38 years later that car rallyists D.R. Shivram, 67, from our own city and Dr. Rajesh Kadakia, 63, from Hyderabad, who is now settled in California, have come together to embark on a journey in the 1991 model Toyota Land Cruiser.

Shivram, recalling the days when both he and Dr. Rajesh Kadakia won the Himalayan Car Rally in 1980 along with Feroz Asgar Ali (another Mysurean), said that this new adventure at this age is going to be a real challenge.

Speaking to Star of Mysore here this morning, Shivram said, “My friend Dr. Rajesh Kadakia came all the way from California in the middle of the night. Earlier, I had gone to Hyderabad about two months back to pick up the car and both of us drove it to Mysuru to get it ready for the big adventure. He has already completed 39,000 kms, driving from California to Hyderabad with his wife Dr. Darshana Kadakia and now I am accompanying him on this leg of the tour.”

On why he chose the Toyota Land Cruiser, Dr. Kadakia said, “I have the best and the latest cars like Tesla FX which can accelerate from 0 to 60 in 2.9 seconds and also Nissan Turbo besides a Cessna Aircraft. But this Land Cruiser which I bought in Japan in 2015 and got it completely rebuilt  in Canada is the best because it does not have any computer gadgets. If anything happens to the car on the road, it can be immediately repaired, unlike the cars of the present where you have to wait for the company mechanic to repair it.”

“We will start our journey in another two to three days after the car is fully equipped. Shivram, who is a ‘hidden gem’ and I brought this car to Mysuru to get it completely ready and I can tell you that the kind of work the car mechanics in Mysuru have done not many in the world can do. For instance, the strong bumpers that Blu Garage owner Muthanna has put up and the Johnson Auto Garage that has worked on every minute details of the car, fitting all kinds of equipment is a world-class work,” said Dr. Kadakia.

Asked about his trip from California to Hyderabad which he did in 62 days, Dr. Kadakia, a vegetarian, said  the main reason he did was that he wanted quality time together with his wife which they never had in their 37 years of marriage. “My wife kept complaining that she had never had any free time with me and one day I promised her that we will spend time together with no one else around us and I told her that we were going to India. She was delighted as both of us love this country. Then she asked me when we are going to buy the air ticket. I said no we are driving all the way to India.”

They started the journey from California, drove to New York and airlifted the car to Paris and from there passed through Europe, China and reached India. “We thought we could do the whole journey in 37 days.  When we reached the border of China, a war had broken out and they would not allow us to pass through. We had to drive around from Eastern to Western China, pass through five countries which added another 9,000 kms. So finally we reached Hyderabad driving through Tibet and Nepal,” he said.

Shivram and Dr. Kadakia, starting their sojourn from Mysuru, will drive to Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Siliguri, Kolkata, Manipur, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia to enter Singapore and even drive to Indonesia which will be the last leg of the tour.

“This trip will take around 20 days to complete and later the car will be flown to Australia from where Dr. Kadakia and his wife will be together again,” said Shivram.

“What is age? It is just numbers. Also, I am not new to Mysuru. My guru is Swami Chidvilasananda, who is from these parts. The main purpose of this adventure is to tell the youth that when a diabetic and a heart patient in his sixties can do this, anyone can do it. But the important thing is to do whatever one does from their hard earned money without depending on anyone,” signs off Dr. Kadakia.

The fully-equipped car with the number plate 7YAR909 (with the tax paid receipt pasted on the top that reads ‘Mar California 2019’, which is the expiry date for the yearly tax to be paid and in the bottom the website dmv.ca.gov that helps check whether the car is with the original owner) parked in the lobby of Shivram’s residence in Yadavagiri, is all ready with finishing touches being given to drive the car nearly for another 8,000 kms.

The car has two batteries and also carries an inverter that powers the equipment like water heater, ice- maker, refrigerator, cooler, electronic phones, hot plate and rice cooker. It also has the capacity to store 35 gallons of water and there is a separate tent outside that can be unfolded where the drivers can have a shower in the middle of a desert or on highways.

It also has two diesel tanks with a capacity to carry 38 gallons in the main tank and 40 gallons in the second one besides four small tanks that carry five gallons each. These are specially designed tanks for long distance all-terrain driving. The car gives a mileage of 4 to 5 kms a litre.