Beetles from Nepal rally into Gangtok on a Friendship Drive

AMEET OBEROIGANGTOK, 09 Sept: “This is the first international rally we have taken with our Beetles,” shared Gopal Sundar Lal Kakshapati, president of the Association of Nepal Beetle Users Group [ANBUG], while speaking to NOW! here in the capital today evening. The Kathmandu-Gangtok rally has been billed as the “Nepal-India Friendship ANBUG Drive 2011”.
“We had wanted to make this trip in 2007, but due to the political unrest in our country at the time, we had to postpone our rally,” he added.
The Volkswagen Type 1, widely known as the Volkswagen Beetle and Volkswagen Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen (VW) from 1938 until 2003. With over 21 million manufactured in an air-cooled, rear-engined, rear-wheel drive configuration, the Beetle is the longest-running and most-manufactured automobile of a single design platform anywhere in the world. It is an obvious favourite of vintage care aficionados and a 1999 international poll for the world’s most influential car of the 20th century had ranked the Beetle fourth.
The ANBUG members are obvious VW Beetle fans and have powered into Sikkim in 22 Beetles, the oldest model in the rally dating to 1958 and youngest [!] having rolled out of a Volkswagen factory in 1976.
The group of 65 is obviously on the road for an adventure and in high spirits since this is the first International Rally of the organisation.
“We have three types of rallies within our group; the first is the ANBUG Himalayan Rally which we do in Nepal, then we have the Inter-City Rally, which we take in and around the various places of Nepal, and there is this, the International Rally which we take outside the country and this is our first international rally,” Mr. Kakshapati informed.
He explains that they decided to motor through Sikkim on the international leg of their rally as a “friendship drive” building on the many things in common between Nepal and Sikkim.
“We also wanted to see Sikkim because we have heard so much about the State and its beauty,” he said, stressing that Sikkim enjoyed a very positive image in Nepal.
Travelling on a budget of Rs. 20 lakh, the rally includes media-persons.
The rally left Kathmandu on 06 September and arrived in Gangtok on 08 September at around 10 p.m. They are scheduled to leave Gangtok on Sunday, heading back to Kathmandu where they are expected to arrive on 13 September.
Today, they drove their Beetles to Rumtek Monastery, and on Saturday, they plan to visit Tsomgo Lake. Unfortunately, the Gangtok-Tsomgo road might prove too much for the air-cooled Beetle engines and the group has been advised to make the trip without their cars. Gangtokians can however expect to see some Beetles on the road when the team goes sight-seeing later in the day or when they rally back to Nepal on Sunday morning.