This third and final article of our Happiness Truck 3.0 campaign captures our travel through the main cities of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan, creating awareness about the status of the transporters and offering insights about new products in the logistics industry.
Having covered a major part of the country in our earlier journeys on the road, it was now time to enter Maharashtra. Our first city was going to be Sangli. Located in the western part of Maharashtra, it is known as the ‘turmeric’ city of India due to the production and trade of this spice. Sangli is situated on the banks of river Krishna and houses many sugar factories. It is about 390 km from Mumbai and 240 km from Pune. Our destination was the Transport Nagar where we met Mohit Arora, the state head of Valvoline in Maharashtra along with Valvoline’s Assistant Territory Manager Chetan Ujagare, Excelite’s Sales Executive Shri Ashok and Shri Satish of Sai Lubricating, a dealer of Valvoline.
The occasion gave us the opportunity to interact with truck fleets, operators and mechanics. We then left for Pune via NH 48 and I got a chance to travel in the Happiness Truck (HT) with the driver. They had a beautiful conversation revolving around the philosophy of life and the driver revealed the travails of being on the road and away from the family for long periods of time. “Road conditions also affect the journey. Poorly maintained roads cause accidents and pose an enormous hazard to drivers. In many instances, a driver may attempt to avoid a certain situation like a pothole or a water-logged section in which case it can cause a mishap,” he said.
Being in Maharashtra and not having its top local snack, the ‘wada pav’ would be considered a sin and so we well and truly indulged in having it. Pune is an amazing city having metamorphosised from a small town to a metro. In the 18th century, the city was the seat of the Peshwas, the prime ministers of the Maratha Empire, and one of the most important political centres in the Indian subcontinent. The city was previously also ruled by the Ahmednagar Sultanate, the Mughals and the Adil Shahi dynasty. Historical landmarks include the Lal Mahal, the Kasba Ganapati Mandir and Shaniwar Wada. Today, the city is regarded to be the second major IT hub.
Pune greeted the Happiness Campaign 3.0 with amazing enthusiasm. We met Valvoline’s Territory Manager Saurabh Azad, Royal Automobile’s Shri Ayub, Excelite’s Sales Executive Shri Ashok and Gaurav Kadam who is a committee member of the Association of Transporters Pune. The city is important in terms of the transportation industry because it is a manufacturing hub, especially of automobiles and automotive components. Though the weather was hot and dry, we attracted a huge number of participants and the discussion included the overall industry sentiment at present and the positive factors that the truck fleets see in driving growth in the future.
One of the topics that was highlighted was the increasing cost of fuel and toll tax that has been impacting the transportation industry. Obviously, our next stop was to be Mumbai, which is the closest city to Pune at about 152 km. Mumbai is the financial, commercial and the entertainment capital of India. It is also one of the world’s top 10 centres of commerce in terms of global financial flow, generating 6.16% of India’s GDP and accounting for 25% of industrial output, 70% of maritime trade and 70% of capital transactions in India. The city houses important financial institutions and the corporate headquarters of numerous Indian companies and multinational corporations. The city is also home to the Hindi and Marathi film industries.
We drove via the Bandra–Worli Sea Link, officially known as Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link, which is a 5.6 km long, eight-lane wide bridge that links Bandra in the western suburbs of Mumbai with Worli in South Mumbai. The view was spectacular. After a drive of almost three hours, we finally reached the city centre. The following day we reached Transport Nagar and our Happiness Truck was all set for display. We were joined by Valvoline’s Business Manager Surjeet Upadhayay, distributor Devender Sharma, Excelite’s Regional Manager Ashish Sharma, Jainam Auto Industries’ Miten Doshi, Wason Trucking’s Shri Abhishek and others to grace our event.
Crossing over to Gujarat
The participation of everyone present for the occasion created a lot of enthusiasm and also provided a platform for raising queries about the campaign and the objective behind it. We had the next day to ourselves and it was time to explore Mumbai and its many marvels, including the iconic Gateway of India which is right in front of the Taj Hotel as well as the sprawling beach at Juhu. Mumbai also offered a chance to tuck into amazing street food and we all had a wonderful time. Our next halt was going to be Surat in Gujarat at a distance of 289 km. Surat is located at the mouth of the river Tapti and used to be a large seaport.
It is now one of the largest commercial and economic centres in South Gujarat and one of the largest urban areas of western India. It has well-established diamond and textile industries and is a shopping centre for apparels and accessories. About 90% of the world’s diamonds supply are cut and polished in the city. At the Transport Nagar the next day we were greeted by Valvoline’s State Head Rajiv Ranjan, Excelite’s Area Manager Shri Mosam, Bharat Benz’s Business Development Manager Krunal Kapadia and Supreme Auto Garage’s Rohitash Sharma. We had a wonderful interaction with the local transporters and brand representatives.
We then headed towards Vadodara, driving on a highway that offered a beautiful landscape representing the true colours and culture of Gujarat. Known as the ‘sanskari’ (cultural) city of Gujarat, Vadodara is prominent for landmarks such as the Laxmi Vilas Palace which served as the residence of the Maratha royal Gaekwad dynasty that ruled over Baroda State. It is also the home of the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. Our venue the next day was the local Transport Nagar where we met Valvoline’s Assistant Manager Shri Divyesh and Verahi Automobile’s Shri Vasant. As with other cities, Vadodara too exhibited great energy while participating in the event.
Hitting the highway once again, our aim was to reach Ahmedabad, located at a distance of 112 km. We entered the ‘heritage’ city of India in the evening. Ahmedabad has emerged as an important economic and industrial hub in India. It is the second-largest producer of cotton in India, due to which it was known as the ‘Manchester of India’ along with Kanpur. Ahmedabad’s stock exchange, before it was shut down in 2018, was the country’s second oldest. Cricket is a popular sport in Ahmedabad and a newly built stadium, called Narendra Modi Stadium, at Motera can accommodate 132,000 spectators, making it the largest stadium in the world.
The effects of the liberalisation of the Indian economy have energised the city’s economy towards tertiary sector activities such as commerce, communication and construction. Ahmedabad’s increasing population has resulted in an increase in the construction and housing industries, resulting in the development of skyscrapers. On the day of the event, we were welcomed by Kataria Trucking’s Marketing Manager Sunil Mathur, Valvoline’s Rajiv Ranjan, Excelite’s Shri Mosam, Valvoline’s Business Executive Anurag Tripathi, Ashapura Transport’s Lehri Seth, Sunrise Auto Parts’ Abid Mirza and New Pink City Transport’s Shri Saini. Our discussion centred on the E-Way Bill and its impact on the logistics sector. In short, our journey through Maharashtra and Gujarat created unforgettable memories.
Entering the ‘Land of Kings’
After the successful campaign in Gujarat, we left for Rajasthan. Being on the road with our Happiness Truck is pure bliss. We travelled from city to city, chilling out, and moving on to the next destination. It was nearly a distance of 266 km and the route was via NH 48. Our driver always had had a wish of eating a ‘Rajwadi meal, which is famous in Rajasthan. And so we did exactly that with a sumptuous affair that was so very delicious and grand. This was one of the happy moments created on our journey. We finally reached Rajasthan after a long drive of five hours.
Aptly known as the ‘land of kings’, Rajasthan is spread over 342,239 sq. km or 10.4 per cent of India’s total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh-largest by population. It is on India’s northwest where it comprises most of the wide and inhospitable Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, and shares a border with the Pakistani provinces of Punjab to the northwest and Sindh to the west, along the Sutlej-Indus River valley. It is bordered by five other Indian states. After a restful day, we started on our campaign on May 20 at the Udaipur Transport Nagar.
The weather was hot but that only helped spark our energy to the highest levels. In Udaipur we were joined by Valvoline distributor Nadir Seth, Excelites’s Senior Business Executive Kishore Singh, Excelite’s Sales Officer Ravi Kumar, Mateshwari Motor Garage’s Nahar Singh, diesel motor garage and retailer Shri Ambalal and Nakoda Parshvanath’s Shri Kartik to grace the event. Our interaction with fleet owners and drivers turned out to be informative and fruitful and it ended with a magic show which was a part of our focus on ‘spreading happiness’. Dubbed “the most romantic spot on the continent of India” by British administrator James Tod, Udaipur is a tourist destination.
It is known for its history, culture, scenic locations and the Rajput era palaces. It is popularly known as the ‘city of lakes’ because of its sophisticated lake system. It has seven lakes surrounding the city. Five of the major lakes, namely Fateh Sagar Lake, Lake Pichola, Swaroop Sagar Lake, Rangsagar and Doodh Talai Lake, have been included under the restoration project of the National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) of the Government of India. Besides lakes, Udaipur is also known for its historic forts and palaces, museums, galleries, natural locations and gardens, architectural temples, as well as traditional fairs, festivals and structures.
Our next destination was Bhilwara at a distance of about 152 km, which we reached at about 6 pm. The next morning, on May 21, we geared up for our second day in Rajasthan and were pleased to have with us Valvoline’s Sales Manager Shri Ahmad and Excelite’s Ravi Kumar. The event comprised several activities with the trucking community to create a happy environment and we also had a serious discussion on BS VI and it has been of benefit to the trucking industry. Known as the ‘textile city’, Bhilwara’s oldest part was set up in the middle of the 11th century by building a Krishna Radha Mandir that still exists and is known as the Bada Mandir.
After the event we left for Nasirabad at a distance of about 2.5 hours. It was now really hot but we had a fixed schedule to adhere to at the Nasirabad Transport Nagar where we were accompanied by Valvoline’s Sales Manager Shri Ahmad, Excelite’s Ravi Kumar, Anil Automobile’s Shri Bunty and Bharat Benz’s Bhanwar Singh Rathore to conduct the proceedings of the event. Surprisingly, mid-event there was a sudden change of weather and it drizzled for about 10 minutes following which the sky became clear once again. The participants from the trucking community discussed several issues with us and it also offered our team to understand the problems faced by the fleet owners and drivers.
Painting the pink city ‘red’
Our next stop was at the beautiful city of Jaipur, known as the ‘pink city’. It is about 136 km from Nasirabad and we drove via NH 48, also enjoying the occasional downpour that helped cool the weather. Jaipur welcomed us with a dust storm and thundershowers and in fact such was the force of the storm that we could not even have a proper dinner. A team mate got injured and there was nothing else to do but find shelter in our hotel rooms. The next day, however, dawned absolutely clear and we proceeded for the event where we met Bharat Benz’s Territory Sales Manager Ankur Khurana, Excelite’s Ravi Kumar, Valovoline’s Assistant Territory Manager Pradeep Singh, distributor Shivam Goel and Bunty Auto Electrical’s Bunty Seth.
Our team presented Sanjay Ayani of Vinayak Trading with a shawl as a token of happiness. Our discussion during the event focused on the e-way bill system which is at times hampered due to connectivity issues. We learned that most of the states want to implement their own e-way bill system. The event ended with some games and it certainly turned out to be an occasion to remember. Jaipur is known as the pink city due to the dominant colour scheme of its buildings and visitor attractions include the Birla Auditorium, Albert Hall Museum, Hawa Mahal, Jal Mahal, City Palace, Amer Fort, Jantar Mantar, Nahargarh Fort, Jaigarh Fort, Birla Mandir, Govind Dev Mandir, Garh Ganesh Mandir and the Jaipur Zoo.
It also has the Jantar Mantar observatory which is a collection of 19 astronomical instruments remarkable at their time. Jaipur marked the end of our tour to Rajasthan and we now proceeded to Delhi, a journey of seven hours. It was now May 26 and our first destination was Ghaziabad, the gateway of Uttar Pradesh. Here we were joined by Shri Manmohan, Shri Shyam Logistics’ Mahadev Kaushik, Tirupati Road Carrier’s Ram Vilas Gupta, Rupa Body Maker’s Amrit Singh, Naseem Motors’ Shri Naseem, Bharat Benz’s BDE Shubham Chauhan, Advani Motors’ Gulam Mohommad, Valvoline’s Assistant Territory Manager Shri Aayushman, Excelite’s Shri Sunil and Om Trading’s Shri Harsh, among others.
Over and Out
The participants showed great interest and involvement in the products and our activities. As this was the final location of the Happiness Truck before returning home, the team felt overwhelmed. The occasion called for cutting a cake and there was joy and happiness all around. The team’s hard work, long days on the unending roads and preparedness had paid rich dividends and the events had certainly provided an opportunity to understand the challenges faced by the trucking community. Road trips aren’t measured by mile markers but by moments. A good campaign never ends. It just takes a pause. So it won’t be long before we come up with another ‘happiness’ journey. Till then, spread the smile at every mile!