The Road Not Taken To The Achingly Beautiful Jibhi Feat. MG Hector

A famous poet once said - 

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same.”

If you’re a big poet fanatic, you know from which poem I’m quoting these lines from. But let us set some context here. One fine day, an unexpected opportunity came my way where I would be taking the MG Hector to the less busy parts of Himachal Pradesh. 

Now, the majority visiting Himachal Pradesh would always want to head to Manali, which from what I heard is crowded and “commercialized.” But thanks to the experiential drive organized by MG, my road trip reminds me of  “The Road Not Taken” poem as we would take Hector to the untouched parts of Himachal, including the beautiful Jibhi, Chitkul (last village of India) and Narkanda.

Day 1: Delhi To Jibhi - 470km 

Our drive commenced from the brand’s Moti Nagar showroom in Delhi at 7 am, where our friendly hosts from MG – Rahul Mathur and Megha Seehra – gave us a quick brief and handed over the keys to a red MG Hector Petrol CVT, our steed for the next few days. 

An early morning departure meant we skipped Delhi’s peak hour traffic, but what was in store isn’t what I was expecting. The convoy passed through the heart of old Delhi, which was bustling with vegetable vendors, rickshaw waalas and buses stopping in the middle of the road. 

The result of poor road discipline from the locals came to light moments later - four accidents in a span of just 40 minutes. Praying to our deity for a safe drive and activating the extra caution button in our brains, we thread carefully to our breakfast halt in Murthal.  

Murthal is one of the most popular rest stops just outside of Delhi for most road-tripping folks, an area where a congregation of roadside dhaabas became extremely successful over the years for their food, especially the hearty parathas. This was my first ever time visiting Murthal and our convoy was booked at the iconic Amrit Sukhdev dhaba. A friendly media colleague of mine suggested I try out the Aloo Pyaaz paratha, which was served a good 25 minutes later with a huge dollop of butter that’s sure to give a spike in cholesterol. But one bite into it and I was lost for words and it was the best one I have had in my life! 

Seizing this opportunity, I stuff in another gigantic paratha, followed by a humongous glass of lassi. Now, anyone doing a roadtrip knows that a stomach full of food and driving isn’t exactly the best recipe. But thankfully, I had my colleague Yashein to take over the wheel from Murthal to our next stop in Chandigarh for lunch as I decided to hit the sack for a while, testing the comfort levels of the Hector. 

Also Read: My First BIG Road Trip In A Small Car Feat. The Renault Kwid

When we encountered a massive kilometre long traffic jam on the outskirts of Ambala, Google Maps came to our aid, suggesting an alternative route through countryside roads all the way to our lunch stop, where progress was smooth. 

The fantastic food experience continued with an amazing lunch, and I got back at the wheel as we headed to our night halt in Jibhi. While I was expecting an uneventful drive, the rain gods had different plans with extremely heavy showers between Bilaspur and Mandi, slowing our progress. Things got trickier for those driving diesel variants of the Hector as some of them flashed low AdBlue levels on the instrument cluster, meaning the convoy had to make an unexpected detour to the MG showroom for them to top-up. Applause to the MG personnel here, who made us wait for just 10 minutes and ensure work was done speedily so that we could continue our journey. 

Post our halt, we started our adventurous ascent up towards Jibhi. Picture this for the final 40 kilometres – pitch black surroundings, narrow and bad roads and us doing a rally stage at night through this section. Friendly folks from rival portals decided to tag along in their Hector and with no traffic on the opposite side meant we were making good (and fun) progress. 

This is where I would like to bring the Hector petrol-CVT to the picture. 143PS and 250Nm aren’t really numbers that will get you excited, but the Hector didn’t feel underpowered for even a bit. We encountered some really bad stretches during this last stint, but the Hector CVT was more than up to the task. Just find the right line, smash the pedal to the floor and voila, the Hector crossed it without a sweat. 

We reach Jibhi late at night, hoping for even better adventures the next day after an eventful day. But mother nature had different plans. 

Disappointment Awaits! 

A couple of people who did recce for this trip earlier had reported that weather in Chitkul is deteriorating and advised us not to visit. Bad weather in the Himalayas could result in things taking a turn for the worse and possibly result in us being stuck in Chitkul for a couple of days if anything goes out of our hands. 

This meant Megha and Rahul took the tough decision to skip Chitkul for good as safety comes first. Instead, we decided to head to Narkanda directly, shortening the trip by a full day! This, for me, was a tough pill to swallow as I was really looking forward to visiting Chitkul. But safety takes priority and we decided to make the best use of whatever we had on our hands. With a heavy heart, I hit the sack, looking forward to the drive.

Day 2: Jibhi To Narkanda - 84km 

Since the drive to Narkanda was just 84km away, we decided to have a leisurely start. Getting up from bed and opening up the curtains in our hotel room just got me awestruck! The surroundings around us with pine trees that extend all the way to the horizon was mind blowing. 

Post a light breakfast (saving up space for something better), we start the climb to our first halt for the day - Jalori Pass, situated at around 10,500 feet. During this ascend, we encountered super narrow roads with tight traffic in between. Thankfully, Hector's 360-degree camera offered crystal clear views through its massive infotainment, meaning I can place the vehicle perfectly at narrow sections so that traffic can pass.  

Despite Jalori Pass being just 11km away from our accommodation, the climb took more than two hours to reach, courtesy of the views, good enough to give Swiss Alps a run for their money.  Each and every curve offered something different and me being an enthusiast for clicking landscape photography, just wanted to keep on stopping. 

A point to mention is that as we started ascending and as oxygen levels started reducing, Hector was struggling a bit to climb up. And with no possible manual control of the gearbox, we slotted the lever in manual mode and made it up to the pass. While everyone went to the pass to click pictures, I, on the other hand, had an important thing to attend to - the customary Maggi and Chai. 

Despite tons of times to recreate this yummy Maggi by yours truly, it just couldn’t come close to the way these humble people in the Himachal make it.  After slurping down two plates of the soupy noodles, plenty of chatting, laughter and Shah Rukh Khan-inspiredposes for pictures, we head down Jalori Pass and continue towards Narkanda. The drive down from the Pass was equally as stunning as the climb up. Thankfully, the roads from here were good for most of the part, but the narrow width meant we really couldn’t open the Hector up. 

Soon, we reached the bottom of the Tirthan Valley, where we were united with the Sutlej river. And from here onwards, the last 35km consisted of stretches that are really wide with long sweeping corners, straights till your eye can see and breathtaking views. And since I had digested enough of the visually stunning vistas, I decided it’s now time for speed and power after a day full of reversing, careful driving and the speedo barely crossing 30kmph! 

Gearbox in Sport, seat belts buckled and pedal to the metal. Yes, these are words to be used if you are driving a hot hatch or a performance car, but tell you what, Hector didn’t disappoint. It did roll around corners, the steering felt a bit vague and doing corner carving is not really its thing. But tell you what, it didn’t complain and kept us cocooned and comfy as we were pushing it hard. 

We reached Narkanda in no time, where we hit the sack and were preparing for our last leg of this trip to Delhi. 

Day 3: Narkanda To Delhi - 480km

The final day saw us heading back to Delhi, while dropping a couple of our colleagues in Chandigarh. Our Hector also saw a colour change for this stint as we were behind the wheel of the Blackstorm Edition. Must say, the black hue dialled up the stealth, while the tastefully done red highlights gave it a nice contrast. 

The drive in this leg was largely uneventful, except for the one hour long traffic jam in the bustling streets of Shimla. We reached Delhi late night, gave everyone a fair share of hugs and handshakes and called it a day. 

Closing Touches 

Yes, this drive, unlike others, threw plenty at us. Unruly traffic, bad roads, ever changing weather, cut short of a whole day due to safety, achingly beautiful sceneries and much much more! But what kept us united through all of this was our strong convoy of seven Hectors and over 20 candidates that participated in this drive. 

In fact, I would go on to say that a handful of people from this trip have now become one of my closest friends and that’s what made it extra special. These few people made the trip all the more entertaining and fun as we encountered these challenges. And it’s because of these really good memories, Jibhi holds a place in my heart. 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank MG Motor India and our hosts – Megha Seehra and Rahul Mathur – for organising this wonderful and memorable roadtrip. As Robert Frost said -

“I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

Because it's not about the destination, but about the journey.