Indian Navy organises Mumbai-Leh-Mumbai drive

The Indian Navy has organised a car rally called the Surf to Snow drive to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Western Naval Command. The rally will see 120 people driving 10 Mahindra SUVs over 9,500km, from Mumbai to Leh and back again. Having begun on May 3, the SUVs will travel through Gujarat and Rajasthan on the way to Delhi and go through UP and Madhya Pradesh on the way back, taking a total of 32 days.

The route taken for the rally saw participants make their first stop in Vadodra after starting at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai. The last part of the Leg 1 was flagged off on May 7 in Jaipur, before heading to Delhi, where Leg 2 began. Each serious climb into the mountains is accompanied by a day of rest, so that participants may acclimatise to the high altitude.

At each of the stops, participants also interact with students from various schools on the route, from the Gitanjali Institute of Technical Studies and Swami Vivekanand Govt Model School at Udaipur to the Spiti Children Home School, Munsel-Ling and Bishop Cotton School, Shimla. The fourth leg of the rally is underway from Delhi back to Mumbai via Nashik.